Run Away
by Hoennshipper6669
Summary: (A remake of an old story I wrote, in honor of the upcoming Hoenn Remakes!) "I was excited about leaving for my journey, May wasn't happy about me leaving her home and lonely. She made sure I knew, but her plan backfired when I ended up running away from home. Well this is the wicked story of all the adventures I had!" -Brendan
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1: Runaways

As I entered Route 102 a cold wind blew through me. My gut told me something was coming, so I reached for my Mudkips pokeball. My eyes widened as I spied a dark shadow speeding down towards me.

'KLONK!'

"Ow! Son of a-!" I yelled out, startled by the dropping acorn Pokémon. "So you're the one who tried taking me out!" I pointed at the grass type, who was staring at me in a state of confusion. I let Mudkips pokeball drop to the ground, releasing the Pokémon on impact. "I plan on capturing you!" I told the Seedot.

"Okay Mudkip, hit him with Tackle!" I ordered. Mudkip charged at the wild Pokémon and rammed into it with incredible force! Seedot fell backwards and began glowing red. "Careful Mudkip it's using Bide!" I warned. Mudkip looked back at me and nodded. "We're already in this one's attack Mudkip, so use Growl continuously to weaken the damage!" Mudkip began growling at the Seedot, who was storing energy for his attack. Mudkip used Growl on more time, intimidating the Seedot to the point where the unleashed energy barely even hurt Mudkip! I smiled and pulled out a pokeball from my bag.

"Mudkip I think he's had enough!" I said, throwing the pokeball afterward. Mudkip watched the ball fly through the air and suck up the Pokémon in a flash of light. The red and white sphere rolled on the ground. "The suspense is killing me, how about you Mudkip?" Mudkip smiled nervously as the ball continued to roll…

'Click!' "Gotcha Seedot!" I was so excited that I actually said that aloud. I recorded the information about the Pokémon in my pokedex out of habit, although I'm sure I won't be returning to my dad's lab for a while if ever. I picked up the pokeball from the ground and withdrew Mudkip. I smiled at the two putting them together and sticking my finger between them and laughing immaturely. I kept on down the road. It was still quite early so not many trainers were out, and the ones that were out were Ace Trainers who wouldn't challenge me because I lacked gym badges.

The hike to Petalburg was nearing an end and I saw a strange looking, green-colored figure in the middle of the road. As I neared the next city, it was revealed to be a Ralts, it was beaten pretty bad and needed immediate medical attention. "That fight you had must've been brutal." I picked up the Pokémon gently in my arms and ran the rest of the way to Petalburg. "Don't worry little buddy, I'm gonna get you some help!" I assured the weakened Pokémon. It groaned and shifted slowly in my arms. Running through the double doors of the Pokémon center, I accidently knocked over another kid who had green hair and pale skin.

"Hey! Watch it!" He growled, hitting the floor. "Sorry!" I replied still dashing for the P.C. counter. "Nurse, I need you to help this Pokémon!"

I could tell that the kind lady was holding in a gasp as she took the fainted Pokémon, barely breathing in my arms; but she kept her cool as best she could.

"Excuse me, sir; do you have a pokeball for Ralts?"

"It's wild…" I pulled out an empty ball anyway and captured the defenseless Pokémon. Nurse Joy took the ball and placed it in the healing machine beside her. She asked to see my other Pokémon as well and I handed them to her to be healed. She told me they will be ready in a few minutes and that she would call me up when they were fully restored. I smiled and went to sit down. The green haired boy I knocked down earlier was checking his email via computer in the corner next to the counter. I sighed and walked to him.

"Hey sorry about pushing you down earlier, I wasn't paying attention." I rubbed the back of my neck and avoided eye contact after I apologized. He smiled.

"It's alright, accidents happen. Just watch where you're going next time okay." He laughed. "You might accidently kill someone!" He held out his hand. "I'm Wally by the way."

I shook his hand. His grip was weak and his hands were clammy. "Brendan." I smiled. The Pokémon center doors opened and my worst nightmare walked inside.

Norman.

I hid underneath the table I was sitting at earlier. "What're you doin-waaah!" I pulled Wally under the table with me and covered his mouth. "Sshh! I can't let anyone find me, I ran away from home to go on my journey." I whispered to him. Norman looked under the table but thankfully he only saw Wally.

"Wally what're you doing under there?" Norman asked. Wally crawled out from under the table and stood so May's dad wouldn't be able to see me. "Oh I uh, I was just… I saw a coin under the table and I went to pick it up." He lied. Norman sighed and then began to speak. "I'll be free later today so you can stop by and I'll help you capture a Pokémon, alright?" Wally's eyes lit up. "Th-thank you, sir!" Norman waved as he walked out of the building. I crawled out of my hiding place. "Phew… close one… pretty dangerous."

"Brendan, can I ask you something?" Wally was fidgeting with his hands and looking towards the ground. "I know this is weird since I just met you and all but… I want to go with you. Will you please let me go with?" He asked. I could see the hope manifesting in his face. He looked up and faced me directly. "My parents are afraid I'll get hurt if I go on a Pokémon journey, I am a little afraid too…" He continued. "But if I were to go with a friend, than I wouldn't be afraid at all! So Brendan… Will you please take me with you?"

I was baffled, speechless; I didn't expect that to come out of nowhere like that. Although, I would enjoy the company and have some help if I ever needed it. We sat in silence for roughly a minute. I smiled at him.

"We're gonna be leaving as soon as my Pokémon are healed. So pack up buddy!" He jumped up and fist pumped as hard as he could!

"So you'll help me capture my first Pokémon!?" He asked. "Well I actually just captured a Pokémon that I'll let you have!" I answered. Wally beamed with happiness! "But I still have to teach you how to capture a Pokémon." I went to pick up my Pokémon. I took Ralts' pokeball and handed it to the green haired trainer. "Just promise me you will have my back if my neighbor ever tracks me down." Wally promised and we headed back to Route 102.

We walked in the tall grass near a small pond on the outskirts of Oldale Town, searching for a Pokémon to capture. Suddenly a Lotad jumped between us. "Wally, use Ralts to weaken the Pokémon and then throw the ball at it!" He sent out his partner Ralts and fought with the water-grass type. After several confusion attacks, Wally tossed a pokeball at Lotad. It rolled several times on the dew covered grass and finally clicked shut. Wally picked up the pokeball. In his excitement he went to hug me but when his arms were nearly halfway through wit hit he stopped and backed up.

"He he, uh… that was no homo, right pal?" He said nervously. "It better not have been homo! I'd have to send you home!" I joked. He laughed. "Alright buddy, let's go all the way to the Pokémon League!" I cheered. We ran straight through the city onto Route 104.

"You know for a sickly kid, you're not half bad at capturing Pokémon." I congratulated. "Thanks, Brendan. That means a lot." We walked through Petalburg Forest talking to each other about our life stories and sharing interesting things with one another. Nearly halfway through the forest, I could've said to somebody that I've known Wally my entire life.

We continued walking through the forest, fending off the bug Pokémon that attacked us and battling several bug catchers when we met up with a pair of bug catchers who said they were so far undefeated. HA like I'd ever back down from a challenge.

"Hey Wally, let's end these guys streak and start our own." I smirked. He smiled halfheartedly. "I've got your back." They two bug catchers threw out their Pokémon: Beautifly and Dustox.

"Go Aron!" "Go Ralts!" We both commanded. Our Pokémon joined us in the battle.

Mudkip popped out of his pokeball to watch the battle. Aron and Ralts stood in front of us staring down the foe's Dustox and Beautifly. The foe made their first move and sent Dustox to paralyze us with Stun Spore!

"Aron, use Mud Slap to blind it!" I commanded, I looked over at Wally, who was somewhat confused as to what to do. "Wally, you tell Ralts to use Confusion on Dustox." He nodded and Ralts raised his hands up to his head and formed a transparent sphere in front of him. The sphere homed in on Dustox and struck down the Poison-Bug type. Dustox flailed about in the air for a minute, struggling to maintain being airborne, but soon crashed out of exhaustion and was withdrawn by his trainer.

"Look out for Beautifly!" Wally warned, but it was too late and Aron wasn't fast enough to avoid the Stun Spore attack. The steel-rock type was coated in a powder that made it impossible to move. Beautifly then used Absorb, jabbing Aron with its long proboscis and leeching away his life! Ralts fired another Confusion attack at Beautifly and the butterfly Pokémon was sent hurling into a tree! Beautifly was alright and came back with a String Shot attack, leaving Ralts tied up to the paralyzed Aron. I looked around hoping to find a solution. I spotted a Cheri Berry tree nearby.

"Wally, have Ralts use his psychic powers to feed Aron that Cheri Berry!"

Ralts began to glow blue and so did the berry. It floated over to Aron and the Pokémon ate the small fruit, curing his paralysis. Aron stood up with ease, despite having Ralts tied to his back, and used Headbutt and defeated the Beautifly!

"Aw man. We lost." The bug catcher whined and withdrew his Beautifly. They paid us the prize money and left without another word, clearly distraught about losing their win streak. I split the money between me and Wally and we continued to hike through the dark woods. We walked for about an hour more before we finally exited Petalburg Woods. In front of us was a building called the Pretty Petal Flower Shop, and a woman ran up to us and asked us for help.

"You're trainers aren't you? Please help our shop, these men are eating all of our berries and not paying for them. You must help us!" She pleaded, pulling us to go with her. We followed and saw a huge garden full of berries and flowers. It was fairly large and like a maze.

"They're in there; please help us get rid of them." And she pushed us into the garden gates. Wally and I walked straight and found a fork in the path. To the left was a longer straight, but to the right was a man wearing a black and white striped shirt with blue pants and a blue bandana. We readied our Pokeballs and marched toward him.

"Hey, you can't eat these berries! They don't belong to you." Wally said, tossing out his Lotad to fight the man off. He jumped back with berry juice all over his face.

"Back off you lousy kid! I'm hungry and nobody stops Team Aqua from getting what they want!" The Team Aqua member threw out a Poochyena and ordered it to attack. The dark type Pokémon charged toward Lotad with a Tackle attack, but was blown back by Lotad's Water Gun.

'If an attack like Water Gun is strong enough to blow his Pokémon back, either that Lotad is really strong or Poochyena is pretty weak.' I thought to myself. I patted Wally's shoulder.

"I think you can handle this one yourself, I'll go and find the others." Wally nodded and I ran off down the other path. Not even a minute later, Wally caught up with me and said that he had already defeated the other guy and sent him running out of the garden. I laughed and saw the other two Team Aqua members sitting down eating a plate of berries.

"We're going to give you guys a choice, either you leave here and never come back, or we hurt you like we did your friend and you leave and never come back." I smirked, they stood up and their Pokeballs flashed. Poochyena and Zubat came out and I sent out Mudkip with Wally's Ralts.

"Zubat is part poison type, so focus Ralts' psychic attacks on him. I'll have Mudkip fend off Poochyena and keep him from getting to you."

The battle began without a moment's notice; the thugs ordered their attacks while Wally and I were planning. Poochyena ran toward Ralts with his fangs bared, ready to bite. Ralts tried to hurl it back with Confusion, but the attack didn't work against the dark type. Mudkip ran up and tackled the Poochyena aside so Ralts could focus his strikes on Zubat.

"Ralts, use Confusion on their Zubat!" Wally ordered, Ralts created the transparent sphere and used it to blast the bat Pokémon out of the air. Zubat crashed onto the ground and the Aqua grunt demanded it get up and fight more, but the poison-flying type Pokémon clearly was unable to battle any longer.

"Mudkip use Water Gun on Poochyena!" Mudkip opened his mouth and projected a strong stream of water that sent the dark hyena Pokémon flying back into his trainer. The Aqua Grunt fell backwards as his Pokémon collided with his chest. He withdrew his fainted Pokémon and crawled back, then ran off with his partner. We chased them all the way out of the garden and watched them flee across the bridge heading into Rustboro City.

"We'll let the police deal with them now." I said. The lady thanked us for helping her and gave us both vouchers for Devon Corps newest product: The PokeNav. We followed her inside and she gave use each Wailmer Pails to help spread the flowers all around the Hoenn region. We told her we would do just that and left the place just as the sun started to set. Wally and I made our way across the bridge into Rustboro City. The lights were just starting to turn on and the whole city was brighter than the red sky.

"Wow this place is huge!" Wally exclaimed. The three goons from earlier were harassing a man in a green suit. They spotted us walking toward them and ran off without a fight. The man motioned for us to come to him.

"Wow thank you guys for that! Those street vermin were trying to steal this package I'm supposed to deliver." He thanked. "It's no problem at all. We love helping people!" Wally replied. The man smiled. He mentioned he was an executive from Devon Corps and we showed him the Voucher's that the owner of the Pretty Petal Flower Shop gave to us. He took the vouchers and replaced them with two orange devices.

"It's a PokeNav!" Wally exclaimed.

"That is correct, kid!" He quickly explained how to use it to us and then left without another word.

"Well that was unexpected." I thought aloud. Wally chuckled.

"The lowest level gym is in this town." I stated. "Want to challenge it?" "Naaa, I should probably train a bit more before that. I want to be completely ready to take down that gym leader!" I replied. Wally nodded.

"I'll come with you; I think I could use a lot of training before I'm ready." He replied with a humble tone.

Route 116 was surprisingly empty. Not many trainers or wild Pokémon were outside even though there was still about an hour left of sunlight. The lights were on inside the cabin built right next to the entrance to the tunnel. We walked into Rusturf Tunnel; I figured it would be a great place to train my team before challenging Roxanne. The tunnel was dark. The only light inside was shining from outside, and with the sun setting, it was extremely dim. I turned on the flash light I brought with me and immediately spotted a pink Pokémon with big ears.

"Whoa, a Whismer," I watched Wally as he reached for an empty pokeball, I noticed he was gonna be lazy and just throw it without a battle. I didn't say anything about that, it'd probably be best to avoid making a commotion. It might disturb the wild Pokémon. Wally crept up behind the Whismer and sucked it inside the red and white sphere. It rolled on the ground for a few seconds…

'Click!' "YEAH I CAUGHT IT!" He shouted in excitement. I cringed looking around at the wild Pokémon opening their mouths and beginning to wail. Bad decision on his part… I should've covered Wally's mouth. The commotion he made had startled the wild Whismer and they began screaming. The noise was halted by a loud crash.

"Dammit! The cave can't be caving in on us!?" The crash occurred again, closer this time.

'Crash! Crash! CRASH! CRASH!' A wild Exploud had appeared, and it was pissed. It used Hyper Voice! Wally and I covered our ears, but it didn't have much effect, I could feel my ear drums vibrating furiously inside my head and I yelled, I saw Wally screaming in pain too, but all I could hear was the screeching Exploud. I sent out Mudkip, Seedot, and Aron to battle the foe. Wally looked over and did the same, sending out his Ralts, Lotad and Whismer to fight.

Exploud continued his barrage of sound based attacks, deafening us and making it impossible for our Pokémon to hear us! Wally's Ralts used his telepathy to transmit thoughts between us and our Pokémon, and our retaliation began.

Mudkip had led the charge to the left with Seedot and Aron following behind. The three Pokémon tackled Exploud, but the large normal type threw them away with one swipe of his arm. Seedot had started to use Bide as he connected and the incredible strike Exploud hit us with was doubled and shot back at him! Exploud was blown into the wall of the cave, causing a couple of boulders to crash down behind him blocking the other side of the tunnel. Wally's Pokémon attacked next, using their special attacks: Confusion, Water Gun, and Uproar. The Exploud unleashed another Hyper Voice, blowing Wally's Pokémon away! Wally withdrew his three fallen Pokémon.

"Get them to a Pokémon Center; I'll finish off the Exploud!" I told him. Wally ran out of the cave just as Mudkip and Seedot unleashed another Bide attack. Exploud was struck once more and the Pokémon dropped down. It looked up to the roof of the cave and let loose a tremendously loud scream! I withdrew my Pokémon to prevent them from getting hurt anymore and covered my ears. I couldn't handle the noise much longer and the wild Exploud dropped onto the ground unconscious. I collapsed, feeling a warm liquid coming out of my ears…

"Hey, Brendan, rise and shine sleeping beauty!" Wally greeted. I rose up from the bed. "Ugh… What happened?" I asked groggily. The last thing I remembered was that I was in Rusturf Tunnel with Wally and then he captured that Whismer… A silver haired man walked into the room. He had metal arm bands wrapped around his bicep and a black suit with purple markings in the center.

"You did my job, that's what happened." He smiled and put his hands in his pockets.

"Hey Brendan, this is Steven Stone. The current Hoenn League Champion!" Wally informed. "He offered us a ride to Dewford Town tomorrow morning, so you better hurry up and get your badge from Roxanne pronto!" Wally helped me up and the three of us walked out of the P.C.

"Champion Steven, what did you mean by 'I did your job'?" I asked. He chuckled. "Just call me Steven." He cleared his throat and continued speaking. "That Exploud was causing the Tunnel Project to be halted because it was attacking the workers and causing the cave to collapse. I had to defeat the Pokémon and allow the project to continue." We approached the gym and the three of us entered the double doors. Wally and Steven watched on the sidelines while I quickly dispatched the weak gym trainers. Finally I made it to Roxanne.

"Welcome, Brendan. I've been expecting you. Your friend, Wally, has told me you're quite the trainer. I'm looking forward to an exciting battle." She greeted. Roxanne sent out her Geodude and I tossed in Mudkip.

"Okay, buddy! Let's finish this with one attack, use Water Gun!" Mudkip opened his mouth and sprayed the rock-ground type with a light jet of water. I cheered out loud. Geodude instantly fainted. Not even standing a chance against Mudkip, who began glowing white and changing forms! Mudkip's white silhouette stood up on his hind legs and grew a foot taller. The white glow subsided and revealed that my Mudkip had evolved into Marshtomp!

Roxanne sent in her signature Pokémon next: Nosepass. Her Pokémon used Rock Tomb. I could only watch helplessly as Marshtomp was trapped beneath the large rocks that surrounded him. The last stone dropped onto the pile, sealing away my Pokémon's fate. Marshtomp fainted from the attack and I sent in my next Pokémon, Aron.

"Aron, use Metal Claw!" The Pokémon charged toward Nosepass and struck it with its sharp claws. Roxanne laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

Roxanne replied with a smirk. "Nosepass' ability is Magnet Pull, and you just hit him with a Steel type move, and now My Rock Tomb Attack will definitely hit, since you have no chance of moving out of the way." I tried to call Aron back, but he was unable to return to his pokeball! Another barrage of rocks covered the helpless Aron and the Pokémon fainted. I returned him to his ball, his defeated state allowed him to be released from Magnet pull. I sent in Seedot, hoping that Nosepass was low enough for Seedot to finish her off. I tossed out my last Pokémon and the acorn hopped out onto the field. It looked at me and started to glow just like Mudkip did! I smirked knowing that the evolved form of Seedot knew Razor leaf, and that would be just what I needed to finish off Roxanne's team. The evolution finished and Nuzleaf stepped forward and faced the enemy.

"Nuzleaf hit it with your Razor Leaf attack!" Nuzleaf nodded at whipped blade-like leaves at high speed toward the rock type Pokémon. The green razors pierced Nosepass' stone body and knocked out the powerful opponent. Roxanne closed her eyes and sighed. "That was an amazing battle. You and your Pokémon fought hard and won a clean victory. I present you with this official Pokémon League Badge." I took the badge and fist pumped in excitement. Wally and Steven were clapping to congratulate me. I smiled back at them.

Wally and I returned to the P.C. Steven left our party to meet his father for dinner. Wally went to the room he booked and I handed over my Pokémon to the Nurse. I sat down on the bench near the easternmost table. Something was uncomfortably wedged there. I stood up and found nothing. I reached into my back pocket instead. I pulled out a golden coin on a necklace with a note attached to it.

Dear Brendan,

I had a hunch that you'd be leaving home before your tenth birthday. As long as you bring me home a really filled up pokedex, it's alright with me… and you uh keep this little deal a secret from your mother. I'm giving you this Lucky Amulet Coin. I'm hoping it will bring you good fortune like it did for me.

My eyes filled with tears reading this note from my dad. The moment was interrupted by Nurse Joy when she called me up to retrieve my team. I grabbed my Pokémon and clipped them to my belt. "Thanks, dad…" I smiled at the golden coin necklace I held in my hand. It was getting late, so I headed for the room Wally booked for us.


	2. Chapter 2

(Author Note: Sorry I missed a week, I got lazy and didn't feel like getting my flashdrive lol. So this weekend I'll give you two chapters. One for last week and one for this week. Enjoy, and please comment what you think. :D )

Relieved Chapter 2: Beach Cup Tournament

The alarm blasted a loud tune in my ear, jerking me from my pleasant slumber. I groggily lifted my arm up and dropped my hand upon the snooze button in an attempt to shut the noisy contraption off. Wally was sitting on the desk writing something down in his Adventure Journal.

"You know, it's best to do that before you go to bed. That way you won't miss any details." I advised. Wally looked up from his work and smiled at me. "We get to hang out with Champion Steven today!" he exclaimed. He was practically jumping up in down in his seat, well he was jumping up and down in his seat. I chuckled and grabbed my bag. The pokenav had a message on it.

"Hey did you send me a message?" I asked my green haired companion. He stood up and checked his pokenav.

"Not that I remember, I might have butt dialed you." He pressed some buttons on the small orange device. "Nope, I haven't messaged anybody. Whoa, check this out! I figured out how to customize the lights!" He pushed some buttons and the two light strips on the sides of his pokenav changed from orange to green. "Pretty neat, huh?" I changed my color to blue and then answered the message. "No way…"

"What's up?" Wally asked curiously. He walked over to his bed and grabbed the last of his stuff. "I got a message from my neighbor, May?!" I was confused at how she managed to get my number, let alone how she knew I had a pokenav. I played the message:

"Hi Brendan, it's me. Look you shouldn't have run away, that was just stupid of you! I'm coming to get you, alright? So please tell me where you are." The recording stopped. "As if I'd tell her where we are at, she's never going to find us when we cross the sea!" I scoffed. How dare she call me after the things she said to me, I wasn't a morning person to begin with and now that message changed my mood from irritable to pissed off. I felt sorry for poor Wally; he didn't deserve to get caught up in this. "I'll die before I let YOU catch me." I replied. The message sent with no errors and I grabbed my bag and stormed out the door. "Let's go Wally; we haven't got any time to waste here!" I barked. He followed quietly and we left the Pokémon Center.

"Um, Brendan what does May look like?" Wally asked suddenly, he wasn't facing me he was looking at the Pokémon center we just left. I turned to see what he was looking at and caught a glimpse of the very evil antagonist of my adventure herself quickly walking toward us, she was glaring at me. "That's her, come on Wally, we gotta run!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him with me. He caught on fast and shook my grip off, and then he ran alongside me. We didn't slow down, only sped up. We ran across Route 104's boardwalk, dashed through Petalburg Woods (thank god we didn't get lost again) and finally made it to Mr. Briney's cabin where Steven was waiting for us. He sighed and came over to us.

"So boys, were you that excited to set sail? Anyway, before we do anything, I want you two to help me look for a rare stone that's found in Granite Cave." He instructed. He searched his pockets for something and pulled out a notebook with a picture of the rock we were looking for. "It's known as the Everstone, and it has a mystical property that prevents Pokémon from evolving." We nodded simultaneously. He boarded his yacht and sent out Skarmory to scout the sea ahead. Mr. Briney came out of his old home and walked us toward his single pier. He told us a little about his boat called "The Compassion" and then watched us board Steven's boat. He waved us off as we raised anchor and headed out to sea.

We sailed for roughly about two hours before finally dropping anchor in Dewford Town. Steven hopped off the yacht with his cool fashion and motioned for us to follow. We saw Skarmory perched atop a building, waiting for his master to return him to his pokeball. Steven did just that and turned to us.

"Granite Cave is northwest past the town. There isn't a shop here, but you two should be already prepared, right?"

Wally and I nodded, although I was lying. I hadn't gone to a shop at all on my journey, and was still using whatever I had from my departure from Littleroot Town. Although I was sure that I had enough to get me through to the next town.

"I know this is a little odd of me to ask you to help me with this but…" he stopped suddenly, as if he didn't really want to finish. He continued. "I'm a collector of rare stones. It's just a hobby of mine."

I groaned. "This whole cave is a rock!? Any one of these stupid rocks could be the one you want!" I picked up a random stone to use as an example. "This one could be your rare rock!" Wally was expecting the champion to kill me for disrespecting his hobby like that; I could see the fear in his eyes. Steven examined the rock intently, and then his eyes sparkled. He snatched the rock from my hands and smiled. "Thank you so much Brendan! You found exactly what I've spent the past two weeks looking for!" He reached into his pocket and handed me and Wally two rocks. Wally's was a Blue transparent stone with crystallized bubbles in the center; mine was a green solid stone with a leaf imprinted on it. "I gave you each a mystical stone used to evolve Lombre and Nuzleaf. I would wait to use them, if your Pokémon become too powerful this early in the game, then they will refuse to obey you." Steven walked further in the cave.

Wally and I pocketed the stones and smiled. "Well that was nice of him, right-!" I turned to speak to the Pokémon on my shoulder… but I didn't have any of my Pokémon out of their pokeball! A wild Abra was perched on my shoulder. It rubbed its tail against my hat.

"WAAAAH!" I fell back in shock. The Abra snatched my stone and teleported off somewhere. I jumped up and started to run through the darkness, yelling for the Pokémon to give it back. Nothing but my own voice echoed through the dark tunnels. I looked around, I had ran off and left Wally behind and was now all alone. I sat down and sighed. Marshtomp's pokeball burst open and released the mud fish with a flash of light. Marshtomp sat down next to me and looked to see what was wrong. Another flash of light shone next to me, and I looked to see who else had released themselves from their pokeball. There, Abra sat next to me, taunting me to chase him and get the stone. I pounced toward him, but he teleported out of the way and giggled like a child. I shuddered at how creepy that giggle sounded as it echoed through the darkness. I decided to catch the Pokémon off guard and hurl a pokeball at it. The Pokémon teleported before the ball could do anything. I groaned and retrieved the empty ball.

A few minutes passed with Marshtomp and me wandering the cave's tunnels searching for Abra. My Pokémon had asked for the flashlight a while ago and enjoyed turning it off and on, trying to figure out how the device could make light by the flick of a switch. Eventually he got bored with just playing with the light and turned it off entirely, making it impossible to see.

"Marshtomp, could you please turn the light back on! I need to be able to see where I'm walking."

There was no answer. I felt around the walls of the cave and grasped something. It started to move in my hands and I yelled in surprise. Marshtomp started to flicker the flashlight again, and I saw that I had grabbed onto Abra's tail! Abra started to teleport me around the stone corridor, not able to teleport too far with me grabbing hold of it, all the while Marshtomp turning the light on and off and laughing.

"This time I've got you!" I smirked, connecting the pokeball and the Pokémon, this time successfully capturing the psychic Pokémon. I let Abra hold onto the stone, as long as it was in his ball. I figured I didn't need it just yet anyway, like Steven said, I'd need more gym badges.

"Well, now that I got the stone back, I need to find Wally." I groaned, still wandering through the cavern. I had withdrew Marshtomp because he was going to burn out the flashlight's bulb if he continued turning it off and on like that, and a broken flashlight in the depths of a dark cave was the worst thing that could happen to me right now. Then I remembered something: The PokeNav! I dialed Wally's Match Call number and started calling. The PokeNav had no signal and attempted to wirelessly connect with any nearby PokeNav's that had service. It managed to get one, but it still had no service. I decided to try and walk out of the cave to get service instead of searching blindly for Wally. I traced my steps back and exited the cave. There I was greeted by Wally and Steven, who were both waiting for me to get out.

"About time you got out!" Wally teased.

"I thought you were still inside, so I was looking around for you."

"So you just gave up?" Wally pouted, still teasing clearly. He had changed since we got to know each other better. He wasn't as reserved as he was when I first met him. He must be shy around strangers.

"I didn't give up; I came out here to get a signal to call your PokeNav." I smiled proudly.

"If you had no signal in there and thought I was still in there, what good would coming out here do? I wouldn't have signal in there either."

My face turned red from embarrassment. I quickly resorted to changing my story. "I'm just kidding around, I knew you guys left and I was down there training. See it out, I captured an Abra!"

Wally thought for a moment. "I think we're more than ready for this next gym battle. With your Abra and My Kirlia, we should be able to easily take out the fighting type Pokémon gym." Wally commented as we left the cavern entrance. It was early in the afternoon at this point. The two of us continued towards the gym while Steven headed back to the cave to continue searching for new stones. "Wally, I gotta heal my Pokémon alright? I'll meet you at the gym in a bit." Wally nodded and continued toward the gym, I walked to the P.C. to restore my team. It didn't take long and the service was excellent as usual and before I knew it I was already watching Wally's Kirlia take down Brawly's Makuhita! The match was one sided, Brawly didn't stand a chance. Wally cheered loudly when he received his second badge from Brawly. Now it was my turn!

Brawly's Pokémon were quickly healed by the gym aid and he was ready for round two! He grinned at me. "There seems to be quite an increase in tough trainers challenging me today. First that cute brunette girl, uh what was her name again? Oh that's right, May!" "Ohhhh you are going DOWN for that comment!" I growled. Brawly was confused, he sweat dropped and attempted to defend himself

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry I didn't know she was your girlfriend!"

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"I'm just gonna stop talking now." He sighed. "And then there was your buddy Wally, I didn't even stand a chance!" He tossed out his Machop and I let out Abra. The ref begun the match and I immediately went for the throat.

"Abra, take down Machop with Confusion!" Abra looked back at me confused. Then it hit me: Abra only knows Teleport. I thought for a moment, but I didn't have a moment to spare. Brawly had sent Machop to strike with a Take Down attack. I ordered Abra to teleport out of the way, the Pokémon avoided the Take Down, and Machop tackled only the ground, hurting just himself in the process.

"Keep that up Abra, as long as we can avoid him, he'll get tired and lose!" I cheered, watching Abra teleport out of Machop's attack and cause the foe to fall and get hurt some more. Brawly began to catch on and had Machop use Foresight to ensure the next hit. I cursed and withdrew Abra and sent out Marshtomp. The mudfish Pokémon wasn't prepared to avoid the attack and was struck in the face with a Karate Chop. Marshtomp fell down and rubbed his face in pain. He stood up and gave Machop a deathly glare and without me even needing to say it, the water-ground type let loose a powerful Mud Shot attack. The mud soaked Machop and dried to the ground like concrete, making Machop unable to move anymore. I withdrew Marshtomp and sent Abra in again. Now that Machop was immobilized, Abra could battle it without me worrying about Abra fainting. Abra came out of the ball and hovered toward the fighting type. He struck Machop on the head with his claw and knocked Machop out. Brawly called his Pokémon back.

"Good job Abra! You haven't even taken a hit yet!" I congratulated, but I congratulated too soon, as I would soon find out.

"You're a tough opponent as well, Brendan." Brawly complimented.

"What can I say? It's a gift." I boasted.

"I'd like you to meet my strongest Pokémon, Makuhita!" Brawly yelled as he threw his final pokeball into the battle. A Makuhita appeared, much tougher than the ones we were tangling with before. He ordered it to use Bulk Up. Makuhita flexed its body, enlarging its muscles and growing in size.

"Abra look out!" I warned and Abra teleported away from Makuhita's Arm Thrust attack. The two Pokémon stared at each other for a moment, both of them motionless and silent. A familiar white glow enveloped both Pokémon as they began the metamorphosis. On my side, Kadabra raised his head and gave of a quick demonstration of his power by making the room tremble with his psychic energy. Brawly's Pokémon had evolved into Hariyama, the arm thrusting sumo Pokémon! Of course, even then it was still not a match against an evolved Psychic Pokémon, and with a single blast of Confusion, the foe's Pokémon was no longer able to battle.

"Ouch! Looks like I didn't stand a chance against any of you. Maybe my arms are getting a bit flabby." Brawly chuckled. He walked over to me and presented the Knuckle Badge. I took the badge and thanked him.

"Now the other gyms aren't so easy, so you two better toughen up your Pokémon and go far. I'll be rooting for you." He said as we left his gym.

Wally and I healed our Pokémon at the local Pokémon Center before heading back to the harbor.

"Mr. Briney, fancy seeing you again. What are you doing in Dewford?" Wally asked. Mr. Briney waved at us. "Well would you look at that! If it isn't the two prodigies Steven Stone favors. I figured you'd already gotten a ride to Slateport by now!" He greeted.

We pointed to Steven's Yacht, "Not yet, we're just about to leave though."

Mr. Briney smiled, "Well I just got here, I ferried a young lass. May was her name. She helped rescue my darling Peeko!" He exclaimed.

I cringed hearing the name May, too many times for today. It was time to go, didn't want to risk an encounter with her again. We waved good bye to Mr. Briney and boarded Steven's ship. A couple more hours of sailing and we'll be back to our travels on the mainland.

We arrived in Slateport City at five O'clock sharp and saw Steven Stone off again. Wally and I continued up the beach, battling with some trainers along the way and even competing in a small scale tournament for a case of soda pop. Wally and I decided to split the spoils. A large man in a cabana shirt and sunglasses came up to use after we exited the small beach shack.

"That was some excellent battling you two did in there!" He complimented. "My name is Scott, and I'm a huge battle fan, I love watching trainers battle it out and seeing impressive battles. I'd like you two to participate in the Beach Cup Tournament in Slateport City's Battle Tent." He handed us each a participant's pass and showed us the way to the 'Battle Tent' he referred to before. It was basically a circus specifically for battling. It had a well built and maintained stadium with high quality bleachers, a sellout crowd and powerful trainers. There were eight trainers on the tourney tree. I was going to be battling a roller boy by the name of Peres. All the battles would be in Double battle format with each team using four Pokémon. I was the first match.

Peres rolled onto the stadium floor, the audience cheering as each of us took our spots on the battlefield. He spun around twice on his roller skates and tossed out two pokeballs containing Grimer and Slugma. I decided to battle using Aron and Marshtomp giving me an offensive advantage against both his Pokémon and a defensive advantage against any poison attack he would throw at me.

"Grimer use Sludge, Slugma attack with Ember!" He shouted. His Pokémon prepared to attack but my attacks were faster, Marshtomp's Water Gun attack blasted Slugma, soaking the fire type to the point of hardening. Aron's Mud Slap attack got a critical hit on Grimer, and rather than blinding the Pokémon like it usually does, the ground attack knocked out the pile of purple sludge. Shocked, Peres withdrew his fainted Pokémon and whipped out his next duo: Spoink and Trapinch!

His Pokémon weren't very strong compared to mine. My last attack didn't even have a type advantage and it still was a one hit KO. Peres sulked off the stadium floor and I was told to return to the waiting room and await the next battles to end, I decided to watch Wally's battle via the flat screen TV's hanging up on each wall. His opponent was a burly woman… or at least I think it was a woman. She fought with powerful physical attacks and no strategy. Wally's combo's had this match in the bag. The match lasted exactly the same time as mine did what a coincidence! Wally withdrew his unharmed Pokémon and returned to greet me in the waiting room.

"Did you see that? That was pretty good wasn't it?" He appealed for my approval.

"That match was amazing! Good job, dude!" I complimented. He smiled at me and then sat down to rest a bit after the last match. His physical skills were improving quickly, compared to yesterday when we first met. The next match was between some old man named Radle and a lady named Denslon. The poor girl didn't last very long with her team of cute and cuddly Pokémon. The next match was ultimately the longest, lasting over an hour.

Finally it was my turn to battle again; I hopped off the bench and jogged toward the door leading to the stadium. Once again I felt the cheering of the crowds wash over me like a crashing wave.

"Well, look who it is, if it isn't old man Radle." I smirked.

"I'm going to teach you some respect, sonny!" He angrily replied. I chuckled as he waved his cane at me threateningly.

"Careful old man, if you fight too hard you might throw out your back!" My smirk grew. He tossed out his first two Pokémon: Shuppet and Baltoy. Baltoy spun around like a top while his Shuppet bounced up and down in the air, its lower body flowing like a skirt. I called upon my Marshtomp and Nuzleaf, which gave me an equal amount of advantages as my last match. His Pokémon readied there attacks. Baltoy struck first.

"Baltoy use Psybeam!" Radle commanded. Baltoy spun around like a tornado and stopped on a dime to fire a ray of telekinetic energy. Nuzleaf took the hit for Marshtomp, canceling out any damage thanks to his type advantage. He shook it off and then it retaliated using Faint Attack on Shuppet! The attack was super effective and Shuppet was already knocked out. Marshtomp's attack was another instant knock out on Baltoy, the water gun soaked the ground-psychic type and the force of the water blasted him behind its trainer!

Radle scoffed at me, I could've sworn he muttered "Lucky Bastard…" but it could've just been my imagination. He withdrew his fainted Pokémon and sent out his next pair Natu and Houndour. Houndour howled to the sky, boosting her attack stat while Natu used Giga Drain on Marshtomp!

"Nuzleaf take the hit!" I called, the grass-dark type dived in front of Marshtomp and had the life sucked out of him… it hardly hurt Nuzleaf, who suddenly began to glow white from his Bide attack. I ordered Marshtomp to take out Houndour with Water Gun, and he did so flawlessly. The black canine collapsed onto the dirt arena, exhausted and no longer able to battle. Nuzleaf was still charging energy for his attack.

"Marshtomp guard Nuzleaf so he can attack and finish off that Natu!" Marshtomp leaped in the way of Natu's Peck and tossed the Pokémon back. Nuzleaf released his attack and blew Natu away! My Pokémon were much stronger than his, so the single attack made the Pokémon faint.

"CON SARN IT!" Radle shouted shaking his fist in the air, he caused quite the commotion leaving the stage, letting lose a string of old timey curse words and insults. I didn't care though; I made it to the semifinals! Now all that I had to do was wait for the next match to be over and I'd battle for the prize!

Wally fought pretty, young lass. It was quite the battle, but Wally prevailed over her. His Kirlia had overpowered her team and Whismer evolved at the end. The final battle was about to unfold, Wally VS Me, we stepped onto the battle grounds for the last time that day.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you." I warned. He nodded and readied his Pokémon. He sent out his Loudred and Kirlia.

"Come on out Aron and Kadabra!" I called, throwing out a pair of pokeballs. They appeared to explode in the air, sending red bolts of energy toward the ground. Red silhouettes of Kadabra and Aron appeared on the ground and with a flash their true bodies were revealed. Wally was smiling with confidence.

"Loudred use Astonish on Kadabra! Kirlia use Confusion on Aron!" Wally ordered, I told my Pokémon to retaliate with their attacks. Our Pokémon clashed in the center of the field. Lombre flipped backwards from Kadabra's attack and Aron flinching from Loudred's attack, which he dived in the way of to save his partner. Aron used Rock Tomb hitting Wally's Kirlia and entombing her beneath the falling rocks. Wally withdrew his first Pokémon and sent in his Lombre. The first turn was done and the second round of attacks was underway.

"Kadabra use Confusion! Aron hit Loudred with another Rock Tomb!" I commanded. My Pokémon wasted no time diving into the battle once more. Both attacks hit Loudred hard but the retaliation was fierce. Loudred used his powerful Stomp to crush Kadabra out of the match. The ground shook when Kadabra crashed to the ground, the only cushioning for Loudred's foot against impacting the ground. Loudred was then crushed by the falling rocks from Aron's attack, trapping him inside and rendering him immobile. Lombre used Water Gun, but Aron avoided by jumping behind the boulders that surrounded Loudred.

"Go Marshtomp!" I chucked my starters ball into the battle. The red and white sphere burst open with a flash of light, releasing the mudfish Pokémon into the fight. Marshtomp and Aron both worked together to make the field a bit more muddier, using mud shot and mud slap making Lombre have trouble maneuvering. The two Pokémon finished off the grass-water type with powerful tackles, sending Lombre flying back into the rock pile that previously defeated Kirlia. Wally withdrew his Pokémon and was obviously upset that he lost, but he respected me for not letting him win. We shook hands and congratulated each other on a job well done.

When Wally and I left the arena, Scott was at the doorway with Professor Birch… My dad!? What was he doing here? Aw, crap! Too late he saw me. "Oh hey Dad, I wasn't expecting to see you here." I laughed nervously. He smiled and patted me on the head.

"And I wasn't expecting to see you traveling with a partner other than May. Where is she anyway? She told me she was going to find you." My dad chuckled. "Young love."

I quickly changed the subject to introducing Wally. "Oh this is my friend Wally; we've been traveling together since Petalburg. Wally this is my Dad, Professor Birch." They shook hands.

"Wow Brendan, I didn't know your dad was a famous Professor!" Wally flattered my dad.

"Well Brendan, How about you show me your pokedex?" I handed my dad the device used to record information on Pokémon and he scrolled through the pages smiling. "You sure have seen a lot of Pokémon, but how about you start catching them. The pages are blank until you actually catch them." Wally looked at the device.

"What's a pokedex?" He asked curiously. My dad explained the pokedex to Wally, from the basic information to the way it was constructed… Wally lost him after the fourth sentence. My dad noticed the confused look on Wally's face.

"How about instead of telling you, I just give you one! I also would like you to have this Pokémon, provided you promise to keep Brendan from killing anyone, I know how he gets sometimes." My dad laughed and handed Wally a pokedex and a Treecko.

"Wow, really, t-thank you so much Professor," Wally's eyes lit up as he received the gifts. Dad's PokeNav started ringing and he told us he had some urgent business to take care of (Mom), and he left us at that. Scott shook our hands and congratulated us with the win.

When we finally walked outside, it was already dark. Wally checked his PokeNav.

"Wow it is 9:03pm! I didn't think that the tournament would last so long." He exclaimed. We headed toward the Pokémon Center to have our teams recharged and to rest there ourselves. Wally decided to write in his journal before going to bed tonight. I finished writing in my own, and turned out the light, quickly dosing off to a deep slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

Relieved Chapter 3: Shocktopolis

It was early, the sun was just rising and Wally and I were on our way to Mauville City for our next Gym battle. Up ahead was a wacky house and the two of us decided it wouldn't hurt to check it out. Wally stooped over the broken sign and read that it was the infamous Trick House. We walked inside, and found a dark empty room.

"That's weird; I didn't know this place was abandoned." I said, walking past the broken pot that was spilling soil all over the floor.

"Hey, Brendan come over here I found something."

Wally walked toward the table in the center of the room. Beneath the table was a shadow and as Wally drew nearer to the figure, it jumped out and the room flashed brightly! The entire room had changed from the once dark, seemingly uninhabited room to the bright and clean room it was now. A man stood over Wally and looked at him with a defeated frown.

"How did you know I concealed myself beneath that table? You must be pretty sharp." He complimented, turning around and walking toward the scroll on the back wall.

"But I bet you won't be able to find me again. Behind this scroll lies my grand puzzle, so let's just see if you will be able to make it out of The Great Trick Master's maze whoever reaches me first will win a grand prize!" The man, now known as the Trick Master, smirked and then vanished.

Wally and I looked at each other and then dashed toward the scroll. We lifted it up and found a small door. The two of us had to take turns going through it, and when we got through to the other side; we were greeted by large walls that reached the ceiling. Wally and I started walking, trying to agree on which paths to take. Of course, we didn't always agree…

"No, that isn't the right way!" Wally groaned.

"How do you know that? What makes you so sure that that way is the right way?" I retorted.

"Well first of all, if you think about the way we just came and the direction that hall turns; clearly you would realize that it's a dead end." He informed.

"Well I don't care. If you think it's the wrong way, you can go your own way!" I crossed my arms.

"Alright, fine!" He turned around and walked around the other corner.

"Yeah, fine." I said, although he probably didn't hear me. I made my way around the short corner and found that Wally was right: it was a dead end. However, it was still the right way to go, because as it turns out that dead end was where the door's password was posted.

"It would've been nice for the Trick Master to at least have told us about a password." I grunted, reading over the paper and memorizing the code: 'Trick Master is lovely' I chuckled at how conceded the code was and turned back. I reached the cross where Wally and I split up and I looked at all the possible paths to take. To right was where we came from, to the left was where Wally went… but straight ahead my nightmare was staring right back at me, with a look as surprised as me. May stood gaping at me from the other end of the hall, both of us silent. I felt the anger building up inside me, and I even though I was furious, the part of me that still had feelings for her made me turn and run the other way. I couldn't let her get to me, I have to keep my composure and stay calm. I ran through the halls and passed Wally, who called after me saying the door needed a password. I finally reached the door and entered the code. I didn't look back. I let the door close behind me and block out the sound of the reverberating footsteps.

"Phew, that was close…" I sighed.

In front of me was a room similar to the first one, green floors with a single table in the center. The Trick Master was sitting at the table. He hadn't noticed me come in. I stepped up behind him and he jumped startled when I spoke.

"I made it."

"I can't believe you got past my maze! It took me all night to set up those walls…" He handed me the prize: a Rare Candy! "Wipe that smirk off your face boy, it's not over yet. Next time I'll have new traps and tricks for you to try and beat! Good luck!"

And with that, the trick master vanished once more and the back door opened. I walked out of the house and back onto Route 110's pedestrian walkway. The sun was brightly shining high in the clear blue sky. I found shade beneath the esteemed cycling road when I could.

"I'll call Wally when I get to Mauville; I have to keep moving, now that I know May has been following my every step." I thought aloud.

Suddenly, a green spark flashed in front of me, and out from the tall grass a wild Electrike appeared! I jumped back in surprise at the wild Pokémon's aggressive challenge. I felt the fire in my eyes burn the moment my fingers connected with Aron's ball and I smiled confidently as Aron burst from the pokeball and out into the battle.

"Aron, blind it with Mud Slap!" I ordered, raising my arm up and pointing at the wild Pokémon.

Aron dug his stubby leg into the dirt and kicked up a ball of mud that splattered across Electrike's face. The green canine tried shaking it off, but was unable to remove the blinding mud and ended up tackling the railing beside Aron inflicting more damage against itself. I grabbed a pokeball from my bag.

"Well this is a problem… I only have one left. Better make it count, go pokeball!" I hurled the ball toward the injured foe. It ricocheted off the green fur and inhaled the Pokémon. The ball dropped onto the ground, rolling from side to side several times.

'_Once'_

'_Twice'_

I closed my eyes, anticipating whatever happens next, crossing my fingers, holding my breath. Waiting, ever hopefully for the ball to stop rolling, for the ball to click tight and seal the Pokémon within.

'_Three Times'_

_CLICK!_

I grabbed the ball and jumped in the air shouting for joy! I raised my arm to toss out the new Pokémon and see what it could do, but a sudden flash of light and an intense pain halted my action. I felt my body flying in the air, limp. I couldn't move at all, and I could only watch with my blurred vision as I plunged into the waters below. After the splash, everything went black…

.

.

.

.

"May I'm going on my journey tomorrow! Aren't you excited?" I awoke to a boy's voice.

I looked around, it was all familiar, and I've been here before. This was Route 103, where May and I came to hang out. In front of me was May and she was yelling. I couldn't hear everything she was saying, it's as if when I was thinking to myself, everything in this dream was being drowned out. I stopped to listen, to torture myself with the memory of the day before my adventure started.

"You've always been selfish! Always thinking of you, what about everyone around you?!" She yelled. I looked down, forcing myself to take in the whole speech. I had to remind myself why I ran away from home to begin with.

"Well I'm happy for you, you're a _**fucking **_jerk and I'm glad you're finally leaving!" Her voice quivered when she cursed. I hadn't noticed that before, I was always too caught up in the fact that she was actually cussing at me to notice how she was on the verge of crying.

"I hope I never have to see you again…" She turned around and ran away. I reached my arm out to her but it was too late.

She was gone, and the memory was swirling into a black oblivion. I was thrust from the memory and into a blinding light. I grunted, now experiencing the searing pain that was circulating throughout my body, mainly my head.

"Hey, wake up kid. Are you alright now?" An old man's voice echoed through my ears. I opened my eyes. My vision was still a bit blurry, but that was just from me waking up. Moments later, I could see clearly and looked around. An old man with white facial hair was standing over me. He had a first aid kit in his hands. I stood up and he spoke again.

"You took a pretty hard hit to the head when that Voltorb used Explosion."

'_So that's what happened.' _I thought to myself.

"Yeah, I guess I owe you for helping me out." I felt the bandage on my head. It was thick and damp. I assumed it was water, because I did fall in the sea after I was knocked out.

"Well you could pay off that debt right now. See, my name is Wattson, and I run the Mauville Gym and Electric Company. The generator in New Mauville has suddenly turned off. I don't know what caused this, but if you could turn it back on and find out what happened for me, we'll be even."

I nodded and Wattson showed me the way. We descended down a dark staircase. The next passage was blocked off by a heavy steel door. Wattson pulled out a key and opened the gate. He handed me the basement key and told me to watch my back. I nodded and continued into what appeared to be an underground city.

"This place is amazing!" my voice resounded off the metal walls of the small city.

All around me were buildings, in perfect condition. I didn't see anything though, the place was a derelict. I peered inside one of the houses and estimated that the place had been abandoned for quite some time. The dust was caked onto the tables and chairs of what appeared to be a bar. I found a map of the steel jungle and made my way toward the power plant where the Wattson said the generator would be. There was an odd presence that was making me feel uncomfortable. I was repeatedly looking over my shoulder, as if I was being followed. Nobody was there at all. I continued on my way nervously.

The walk to the power plant was short, due to the fact of an underground city having very limited space. I walked inside and that strange feeling grew stronger. Something was in here; that much was certain. I pulled out Marshtomp's pokeball and sent him out, letting him walk next to me and keep me company. Even the mudfish felt it too, he was on edge and his fins were clearly picking up something nearby. I found the generator room and checked inside. The room was dark, and the only lights in the room were the red back up lights. On the floor was a red panel that needed to be pressed to turn the generator back on. I walked up to it and stepped on it, pushing the pressure plate all the way down. The lights flickered on and the generator hummed. I smiled accomplishing my mission.

I turned around to leave when suddenly a loud buzzing noise made my hairs stand up. I turned around and saw a large floating disc hovering in front of me. It had a red central eye and three magnets placed around it in a triangular form. Two smaller eyes were located in the center of two metal spheres protruding from the side of the Pokémon.

"Is that?" I tried to identify the Pokémon using the Pokedex, but it had no data. Just as I thought, this Pokémon isn't native to Hoenn. It doesn't belong here. The Pokémon was clearly angry; it must have been suddenly awakened by the generator's racket. The Pokémon formed an orb of electricity and shot a Zap Cannon attack toward me. I wasn't able to get out of the way in time; the static electricity in the air was so strong that it made it hard for me to move, almost like I was paralyzed! I closed my eyes and awaited the shocking fate that would soon end me.

I waited, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw Marshtomp covered in static electricity. He had jumped in the way of the attack fast enough to protect me!

"Marshtomp, you can move?" I asked the Pokémon. Marshtomp nodded. He was ready for battle; his ground type must make him immune to the Pokémon's Electric Terrain. Marshtomp used Mud Sport to cancel out the electricity and I sent out Aron to aid him. I ordered my two Pokémon to attack with Mud Shot and Mud Slap. Marshtomp opened his mouth wide and projected a blast of muck at the foe. Aron dug into the mud splattered all over the tile floor from Marshtomp's Mud Sport attack and slammed the wild Pokémon into the ground with a mud strike. The Pokémon crashed into the ground and was soon buried in mud.

"That was careless, even for a wild Pokémon." I smirked, withdrawing my team.

The Pokémon lay unconscious beneath the mound of wet dirt and the uncomfortable feeling I had was gone. It must have been the electromagnetic forces that Pokémon was emitting. I kept feeling like that was too easy though, half expecting something else to happen. Even when I got to the gates of the abandoned city, I turned around and waited for that Pokémon to strike back at me. But nothing happened and I returned to the surface. The sun was bright, and I had to squint my eyes for a moment to allow them to adjust to the light. I started to wonder where Wally was, and I scanned the bridge across the water to see if I could spot him walking or battling trainers. All I saw was caution tape where I was blown away by Voltorb. I trudged through the shallow water and swam back to shore. It wasn't much of a swim, and before even 5 minutes passed I was back on the mainland and on my way to Mauville City. When I arrived in the city, Wattson greeted me and showed me the way to the gym. I told him about what happened in the power plant.

"That must have been the Magnezone. That Pokémon came along when the place was first built. It feeds off the generator and then turns it off to sleep. The people of New Mauville still needed the power though, but when they attempted to turn the generator back on Magnezone would attack them. Eventually the city was abandoned and Magnezone was thought to have left. I guess that's not true, seeing as how you fought with it." He explained.

"A Magnezone… but those aren't from here? What is it exactly?" I asked him.

"It's an evolved form of Magneton, and the only way it evolves is through a powerful magnetic force, just like the magnet field in New Mauville. It just grew stronger and stronger from feeding on the electricity. I'm surprised I hadn't seen it when I would go down there to activate the generator. I'm also surprised you were able to defeat such a strong Pokémon."

"Wattson, why exactly do you need the generator on? I mean if the city was abandoned, what purpose does it have being on?"

"Well, after I renovated my gym it made Mauville's power supply dry up real fast, so I had to come up with another solution. I hooked up the power supply to New Mauville's generator so that the city would have a surplus of power!"

We arrived at this gym, and I started to go inside. He grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. I turned around to look at him, questioning his action. He shook his head.

"I don't need to battle you, you proved yourself by defeating that Magnezone. Plus, I think you have someone waiting for you in Verdenturf Town. Some friends of yours, let's see there was a young lad with green hair and a lively young woman by the name of May."

'_May…' _

"Verdenturf Town… right, I'll head there now." I said, accepting the badge and heading on my way.

Route 117 was quite vivid, full of flowers and colorful bug Pokémon like Volbeat and Illumise. The firefly Pokémon danced in the red sky, there lights starting to flash on and off in the sunset. The Daycare was closing up for the night and I saw the small town of Verdenturf ahead. Breeders were feeding their young Pokémon one last time before tucking them into their Pokeballs. The gentle breeze and clean air was quite refreshing, making me completely forget about my aches and pains from the explosion earlier. I got into Verdenturf and sent Wally a message on my PokeNav. He responded quickly and told me to go to his Cousin Wanda's house. I asked him for directions and he told me to find him in the southern part of town.

I walked through the grassy pathways, peering around each corner, making sure the coast was clear and May was nowhere to be found. Even though I wasn't quite as mad at her as I was before, I still wasn't ready to talk to her. I had some more thinking to do before I was ready to talk to her again. A lot of thinking...


	4. Chapter 4

Relieved Chapter 4: Red Mountain

I was too late to register for the Flower Cup Tournament, and ended up sitting in the stands with Wanda and watch Wally battle his way through the competition. May was also in the tournament, and by blind luck the first contestant had a type advantage against all three of her Pokémon. I smiled watching Combusken go down with a high velocity blast of water by the foe's Hydro Pump and then her Beautifly to the same Pokémon's Ice Beam attack and finally a Thunderbolt from the foes Magnemite to take down her Swellow, although I felt sad for her because of the defeat. I didn't think about her like I had planned, in fact my thoughts trailed to other things, like returning to Petalburg for my fifth gym battle. I wondered what Norman would think about me, if he'd find me despicable for running away and hurting his daughter's feelings because of it. Perhaps I'd get lucky and he wouldn't know. I snapped back into reality and caught myself staring at May, who was staring right back. She turned around, still looking up at me, and walked off the stage. I knew where she was headed next. She was going to come to where I was.

"Wanda, I'm going to go outside for some fresh air. I'm not feeling so hot." I lied.

She nodded and I excused myself, walking through the crowded isle and hurrying down the stairs and out of the Battle Tent. The sun was still rising, it was pretty early in the morning and the Verdenturf breeze was as pleasant and perfect as the postcards my dad used to send said.

I sighed and walked to the Pokémon center. I left my team to rest there over night while I stayed at Wally's house. His Aunt and Uncle were really nice, and Wanda was a great cook. She loved to talk about her boyfriend who lived in Rusturf, and was upset that the tunnel collapsed. Wally and I choked on our food then, remembering that we were the ones who caused it to collapse in the first place. There were enough beds for all of us too, and the homemade sheets were much more comfortable than the ones the Pokémon center offered. Hospital beds aren't exactly made to be cozy.

It took no time for my Pokémon to get back to me, and they were all excited. I decided to let them out and play, since almost the entire town was still at the Battle Tent for the Flower Cup Tournament. I tossed up the 5 Pokeballs containing Marshtomp, Aron, Nuzleaf, Kadabra, and Electrike. All but Aron and himself, the Pokémon were surprised to see Electrike. This was their first time seeing the green canine and I assumed they were asking it all sorts of questions in their Pokémon language.

"Sometimes I wish I could understand what you guys were saying." I laughed and sat down on the soft grass. A girl sat down next to me, it was Wanda.

"The air here is wonderful isn't it?" She said, placing her hands in the grass behind her and leaning back. I nodded, she started to speak again.

"This nice girl came and sat next to me after you left," I looked over, anticipating the girl she was referring to being May. Wanda continued, "We got to talking and I of course trailed off talking about my boyfriend. She mentioned she was having boy problems too… with a boy named Brendan Birch."

I sighed, I had a feeling this would happen. "May, right?" I already knew who it was, but I didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah, why don't you go and talk to her? She misses you." I felt my heart flutter hearing that. I looked down at the grass. Marshtomp was watching the two of us talk while the other Pokémon played in the flowers.

"I'm not ready to talk to her yet. I'm still angry about what she did, and I don't want to lash out at her like she did to me." I declined Wanda's suggestion. I stood up and withdrew my Pokémon, seeing that the Battle Tent was spilling out citizens marking the end of the competition. "And I don't have time for apologies either. I have a goal I want to accomplish, and I can't have my personal problems getting in the way of that." I walked toward Wally, who was holding his ribbon proudly. His opponent reluctantly congratulated him, and I laughed seeing his grumpy face as he walked away. Wally showed off his ribbon to me.

"Great job, Wally; are you ready to head off to Lavaridge Town now? That's the next gym on the way to Meteor Falls."

He nodded, "But why Meteor falls?"

"Well, I always wanted to go there. It's supposed to be really pretty and have lots of rare Pokémon there."

"And the next Battle Tent Tournament is there too." A tubby man with sunglasses chimed in. It was Scott, we knew him as the owner of the battle tents. He takes interest in tough trainers and loves intense Pokémon battles.

"Wally that was an impressive last battle you had. I was impressed by how powerful your Kirlia's attack is, even though you're still a rookie trainer." He complimented Wally, and then looked at me. "Brendan, I'm surprised I didn't see you down there conquering the field like last time."

"Yeah, I wasn't able to register in time. I got separated and Wally beat me to Verdenturf." I scratched the back of my head; my bicep brushed against my hat and lifted the white spikes up slightly.

"Well I hope to see you in the Volcano Cup; it's in Fallarbor Town, way up north if you didn't already know." Someone called Scott's name in the crowd behind us. He must've recognized the person's voice because he left us and went to talk to them. That was fine by me, the faster we could leave, the better we could avoid May.

Wally and I retraced our steps through Route 117 and took Route 111 North out of Mauville City. There was an impressive tower on top of a hill and Wally and I wanted to check it out. The two of us took one heck of a staircase up to the top of the hill and even the two of us were tired from it. It was known as Trainer Hill and the place was fairly new. Much to our disappointment, they didn't allow rookie trainers to enter. They had a PokeMart there and I figured it'd be best to stock up on supplies now, since I was all out of Pokeballs.

"Thank you, good luck on your journey." The clerk said to me after I paid and started to walk out of the door. I followed Wally down the stairs and we met a man who challenged us to a battle.

"How do you two feel about challenging the Winstrate Family?" He asked us. We agreed, never dismissing a challenge, and followed him to his front lawn, which wasn't too far from Trainer Hill.

"Okay, since there is two of you; we'll have a multi battle, me and my wife against both of you." He offered.

"Fine by us," Wally replied, throwing out a pokeball containing his Kirlia.

"Right," I chimed in, tossing Marshtomp into battle. The two Pokémon stood side by side; Marshtomp lazily opened his mouth and yawned before getting into his battle stance. Kirlia twirled and danced as she gracefully descended onto the grass. The Winstrate husband, named Victor, and wife, named Victoria, both tossed in their Pokémon as well: Taillow and Roselia! Taillow was a bird Pokémon that swiftly flew in the air perching on his trainers shoulder. Roselia was another graceful Pokémon, much like Kirlia. Only instead of dancing like the psychic Pokémon, Roselia fluttered its beautiful flowers around. This would be an easy match.

"Kirlia, use Confusion on Roselia!" Wally commanded. He had known that Roselia would use a grass type move and really hurt Marshtomp if he didn't stop it beforehand. Kirlia closed her eyes and released a screeching sound. The sound manifested into a transparent wave that flashed across the field and into the eyes and ears of Roselia. The grass-poison type Pokémon flew back onto the ground, taking serious damage from the attack. The flower petal Pokémon stood up, swaying around in confusion. It attempted to attack, but ended up hurting itself and ultimately knocking itself out.

"Taillow, use Wing Attack on that Kirlia!"

I sent Marshtomp to take the hit with his Bide attack. Marshtomp began to glow white and Taillow flew down and struck my Pokémon hard with its wings. Marshtomp was sent skidding backwards, dust shooting from where his feet were planted. Marshtomp threw his arms back and the white energy was released. A blinding light flashed around the area and an explosion echoed through the surrounding canyon! Taillow was lying unconscious with feathers scattered around the ground. Victor and Victoria withdrew their fallen Pokémon and called inside.

"These ones are pretty strong!" they both said in unison. There was some shuffling coming from inside the house and a young lass and her grandmother came outside. The girl glared at me and the grandmother laughed. The two hurled out another pair of Pokeballs and Meditite and Marill came out. Meditite hovered over the ground with its legs crossed. Marill bounced around, swinging its tail around happily. Marill ran up to Marshtomp and wacked my Pokémon with its tail. Marshtomp growled angrily and sprayed the Pokémon with a Mud Shot attack.

"Marill I didn't say to attack yet!" The girl whined. I didn't change my expression, this was still a battle and whether she was new or not didn't make a difference to me. I ordered my Pokémon to attack with another Mud Shot and the mud fish Pokémon opened its mouth and projected a thick stream of mud all over the water mouse. Marill flew back and its trainer caught it. She started crying. That's when the grandmother started to get serious with her attacks. Her Meditite unleashed all sorts of psychic attacks upon my Pokémon! Wally intervened with his Kirlia's Hypnosis attack, putting Meditite to sleep. The Pokémon dropped onto the ground, no longer hovering with its psychic power, and Marshtomp unleashed his Magnitude attack! The ground shook and trembled. Pebbles leaped across the ground like bugs and the earth shattered beneath the collapsed Meditite! Dirt and stone burst upward and crashed down onto the Pokémon. This was a level ten magnitude!

"Good job Marshtomp!" I cheered. My Pokémon smiled and jumped in my arms. Wally withdrew Kirlia and I did the same to Marshtomp. The two opponents called back their Pokémon and sighed in defeat.

"You are some really powerful trainers. I think you two will go far." The old woman told us while she comforted her granddaughter.

We smiled and thanked them for the battle and they invited us inside. They told us about their training technique, using an item called the Macho Brace to better train their Pokémon's muscles. They gave us each our own Macho Brace to use for future training; it was our reward for defeating them. They also told us that the only way into Lavaridge Town was to take a cable car to the top of the volcano and hike down the mountain pass.

Route 111 was quite long, but we had to take the detour through Route 112 to reach the cable car station that would take us atop the volcano. There were a couple of picnickers eating their lunch and a flock of Taillow flying in the sky above. Wally and I had to climb another large set of stairs to get to the station and we got a few minutes of relaxation on the cable car ride up to the mountain top. I gazed out the window, watching the ash fall all around the car and cloak the distant town of Fallarbor like a blanket. We passed a ridge that blocked my view of the town and moments later the car halted and Wally and I walked out of the station. I scanned the area for a suitable place to descend and I found a large rock that looked fairly easy to climb down.

"Wally over here, I found a rock we can get down." I turned around and waved my green haired friend over. He walked over to me and looked down the slope. "What rock?"

I turned around and saw that the large boulder was gone! I looked around the cliff frantically, wondering to myself how such a large rock could suddenly vanish without any sound. Then there was a crash behind us. I turned around and a wild Golem was growling there. He looked drowsy so he must have just woken up.

"Brendan, that wasn't a boulder! That was a sleeping Golem!" Wally cried, running from the enraged megaton Pokémon.

Golem chased us to a slope, where we both lost our footing and slide down the forested side of the mountain! I was rolling out of control; the only thing I could see was the swirling sight of trees and rocks. I bounced off a stone pillar and could now see that I was falling straight off a cliff. Below us, a clump of trees that was preventing me from seeing, what will probably be my rocky doom? I closed my eyes, flying straight through the foliage and… -SPLASH!-

My body was warm; really warm… in fact I was burning hot! Did I fall in lava? How am I still able to think if I'm in lava? I opened my eyes. Everything was blue. I stood up, there were people staring at me. Wally rolled into the water beside me, breaking his fall. We were in the famous Lavaridge Hot Springs!

Nurse Joy gave us towels to dry ourselves off and we sat in the lobby allowing our Pokémon to recover. People leaving the hot springs glared at us on their way out, if even giving us a glance at all. Wally shook his head, scattering drops of water all over me.

"Hey watch it!" I groaned.

"We just landed in a hot springs after falling off a mountain. You'd think you would be a bit more relaxed." He replied, standing up and heading out the door.

I followed him. He was heading toward the Pokémon Gym, and the original leader recently retired. I didn't know who the new trainer who took his place was, but I heard it was one of his grandchildren. We entered the automatic double doors and a blast of heat hit us, it was steaming hot in there! The room was full of steam, like a sauna. The floor was covered in sand and we noticed there were holes where people were dug into. Someone was resting in the hot sand and woke up to challenge us. He popped up from the pit and a shower of sand shot up with him.

"Don't worry about this Wally, I've got him." I assured, pushing one leg back into the sand and throwing my arm back to toss out my Pokeball.

"Not so fast!" A voice shouted from beneath the sand pit.

Another burst of sand shot up and a girl with a red ponytail emerged from the pit where the first trainer came from.

"Who are you?" I looked over at Wally, who was getting into his battle stance as well. It was similar to mine, in the fact that his right leg was planted in the sand behind him, but his arms weren't quite as animated as mine were. He had taken a lot of techniques from me, but that's alright by me.

"Hahahaha! Puny trainers my name is Flannery, and I am the leader of this gym. I'll bet you're wishing I hadn't appeared, perhaps you'd have survived a bit longer in my gym."

"Well if it's a gym challenge, we'll gladly accept." I answered for both of us. Flannery teamed up with the gym trainer against Wally and me.

"Come on out, Slugma!" The gym trainer grabbed the first pokeball on his belt and underhand tossed it forward. Before hitting the ground the red and white sphere opened up and a flash of light released a pool of lava. The magma began to form into a red Pokémon with bright yellow eyes with flames spewing from the top of them. Flannery folded her right arm across her chest, her pokeball in hand, and extended it out, releasing the ball from her grip and coolly sending out her Torkoal. It was an orange turtle Pokémon with a rock hard shell on its back. It expelled a thick white smoke around it, making the visibility level even lower than before!

"Alright let's do this, Marshtomp!" I raised my arm back and hurled my starter Pokémon out onto the sandy field. The ball containing the water-ground type let out my Pokémon with a blinding light, and Wally threw out his Lombre to assist me.

"Okay, Marshtomp start things off with Muddy Water!" My Pokémon used his water attacks in the sand to create a thick mud pool, and then splashed a giant wave onto the other Pokémon. Slugma's body began to cool and harden from the water attack, but Torkoal retreated into his shell, avoiding any damage!

"Body Slam now Torkoal!" Flannery commanded.

The fire type spun in its shell, moving faster because of the slippery mud! Torkoal spun up the wall and then flew toward Marshtomp with incredible speed and force!

"Bubble Beam,"

A powerful stream of bubbles struck Torkoal and sent the Pokémon off course; I ducked down, avoiding the incoming Pokémon and the fire type slammed into the wall. It left a crater in the wall and jumped down firing a Flamethrower attack at the Pokémon who hit him before, Wally's Lombre, as commanded by Flannery!

The attack blazed toward us and Wally jumped back to avoid getting burned. Thinking fast, Wally ordered a Nature Power attack, and Lombre used the sand to create a deflective barrier of ground and protect itself from the Earthquake. However, he wasn't protected from behind and we were too late to stop the opponents Slugma from hitting Lombre with his own Flamethrower attack. Lombre was blasted into the wall; we could see the flames pouring out from the other side of his Nature Power shield. Wally cringed and recalled his Pokémon back and threw in Loudred!

"Loudred, avenge Lombre and use Uproar!" The noisy Pokémon began to scream and shout at Slugma, it didn't really hurt him though, considering he had no ears. The Pokémon just looked back at Loudred and tilted his head in confusion. Meanwhile, I had Marshtomp come in from behind and attack it with Mud Shot! My Pokémon dropped onto all fours and projected a thick and powerful stream of mud and water at the Pokémon, who became soaked and encased in the mucky water which hardened to his body. The gym trainer whined in defeat and Slugma was called back into his Pokeball.

"Torkoal, use Body Slam!" The turtle once more flew toward our Pokémon, this time landing a direct hit on Marshtomp, crushing my Pokémon beneath the heavy weight of Torkoal's hard shell. I ordered another Mudshot, but that wasn't enough to get Torkoal off my Pokémon. Loudred came over and attempted pushing Torkoal off, but Flannery wouldn't have it.

"Overheat,"

Torkoal began spilling out immense amounts of smoke and fire and soon the entire room was consumed in a blazing inferno. I jumped back and looked away; the heat burned my eyes and face! I could feel the fire all around me and the room grew brighter and brighter! Moments later, the room was cooled and darkened. It was difficult to see after that blinding light, but Flannery appeared to be just fine and unaffected by it! Marshtomp was badly hurt and Loudred was enduring a searing burn. I called my Pokémon back, apologizing for having it suffer such a painful lose.

"Now you've done it, I'll make sure Marshtomp's lose isn't in vain!" I grabbed my next Pokémon, my newest member. "Go Electrike!"

I tossed the Pokémon into battle, and the gym trainer also sent in his Pokémon: a Numel. I glanced over at Wally, who saw this and nodded knowing exactly what to do. He threw his arm up, pointing his finger at Numel and shouting his command. Loudred charged toward Numel and began thrashing it with Stomp attacks! I had Electrike dash toward that Torkoal, who was still recovering from Overheat, and hit him with a Thunder Wave attack. Static electricity surrounded my Pokémon, and he tackled the foe to transfer it to Torkoal!

"Now Torkoal is immobile," I grinned. Numel was taken down easily by Loudred's relentless stomping, and it was two against one, and Torkoal was paralyzed.

"Electrike, use Thunderbolt!" Electrike howled and a bolt of lightning sped toward the fire turtle. A yellow and blue light filled the room as Torkoal was shocked out of commission. The Pokémon collapsed on the ground where he stood leaving both opponents unable to battle. Flannery dropped to her knees and sighed in defeat, her eyes cast down.

"Oh man… I guess you got me…"

She shook her head and stood up. "I'm sorry, I'm new at this whole gym leader thing and I keep forgetting to be myself. I try too hard to be tough and my Pokémon can't adjust to that so easily. They aren't used to fighting like that."

She handed us the badge, although in my mind I was thinking that they fought pretty well together, to be able to take down my water-ground type with a fire Pokémon is pretty impressive. I didn't say anything and just nodded, thanking her for the badge. She handed Wally one as well, who was hugging his Loudred and congratulating him for the victory.

Wally and I left the gym soon after and headed to the nearby herb shop. They sold some good supplies there, although the Pokémon didn't like the taste very much. It was still really healthy for them. Wally had only purchased a little bit and left the store early. I stayed for about an hour, browsing around and looking at the locations of each plant sold there and remembering what my dad taught me about them. I ended up buying only the same amount as Wally, but spending more than double the time he did. I walked out of the store and the same time someone familiar stepped out of Flannery's gym across the street… May! I didn't even wait, I just ran. I ran hard and fast, but dropped my pair of Go-goggles in my mad dash. Wally was waiting at the edge of town and I ran right past him. He was holding a Pokémon Egg.

"Come on hurry up!" I shouted and he chased after me, jumping down the ledges and cliffs back to Route 112 and to the Fiery Path. It was a bright cave, there was lava pooling down the sides of the cave and we could easily see our way through. In fact the cave wasn't even very long, only about a ten minute walk through it and we reached the other side. I asked Wally about the Pokémon Egg.

"I went back to the spa, and an old woman just handed it to me. She said it would be in better hands with a Pokémon Trainer. There were some other eggs but I only got one."

There was a house across the way and a sign that titled the place the 'Old Lady's Rest Stop'. The sun was near setting, and we figured we might as well call it a day and head out early tomorrow morning. We knocked on the door.

"Excuse me; we're traveling trainers hoping to stay the night."

The door opened and an old woman greeted us. She took us down the hall and showed us our room. We were surprised how she fed us dinner and let us stay the night without any charge at all. I opened my journal before heading to bed and recorded the day's events, writing all about the Flower Cup and how it seemed like May was getting closer to me with every passing town. I wrote about the Winstrate Family, and the wild Golem attacking us atop Mt. Chimney. Then the gym battle and finally the kind old lady and her rest stop. I laid my head down and turned out the light to drift away into a pleasant sleep…


	5. Chapter 5

Run Away Chapter 5: Mothers Love

"Why'd we have to get up so early Brendan?" Wally complained, brushing the falling ash off his shoulder.

We were walking through Route 113, which was a drab road with ash falling down from the volcanic cloud like snow. There were plenty of kids running around pretending to be ninja. They would throw a swirl of dust at us after we would beat them in battle. It was really early, even though we couldn't see the sun very well in the valley; we still assumed it hadn't even broke the horizon.

Fallarbor Town was small; there was a battle tent there, just like Scott said. Unfortunately, when we tried to enter the competition, they informed us that the competition was canceled due to recent gang activity in the area.

"Most of the trainers left town, ever since the gangs began to dig in Meteor Falls." The receptionist informed us.

"Meteor Falls? What would gangs want with Meteor Falls…" I thought about what gangs she was talking about, perhaps it was Team Aqua! I nudged Wally and he nodded in agreement, I don't know what he was agreeing to, I hadn't said anything yet. Maybe his Kirlia was able to use telepathy and Wally could hear what I was thinking. I didn't know, and I didn't care. I had more reasons to go to Meteor Falls than some stupid gang. My dad sent me a message on the PokeNav asking me to register a rare dragon Pokémon called Bagon in the pokedex. They are only found in Meteor Falls and even if my dad didn't want me to register it, I would love to have a dragon on my team.

Route 114 was beautiful! It started off bleak, with dark brown dirt and dying crops along the way. But once we got closer to the mountain we found tall waterfalls and tall green grass. Evergreens grew all over the mountain slopes and young woman named Lanette was even smart enough to build themselves a house here. She was the only person who was actually there; the other trainers were probably scared off because of the news of 'gang activity'. Wally and I climbed through the rocky paths and hills through to get to the entrance of the place known as Meteor Falls.

"This is it, Meteor Falls." I smiled.

I was excited to enter the cave; the place was absolutely gorgeous inside! There were huge waterfalls with wild Magikarp leaping trying to leap upstream. Massive pillars and arches of silver colored stone reached high in the caverns space. Zubat flew all around the upper area of the cavern, trying to find a good arch to attach themselves to for their sleep. Water dripped from the ceiling, dripping into the crater pools. There were a lot of craters in this cave. Lunatone and Solrock hovered out of several of them, humming like hollow vases. I spotted a small blue Pokémon atop the cliff next to the largest waterfall in the cave. The cliff was huge and it was looked down it. Suddenly the Pokémon leaped off the cliff!

"What the hell are you doing!?" I ran to catch the Pokémon, but it was too late and it crunched against the hard floor of the cave. Horrified at seeing the Pokémon commit suicide I looked away.

"Damn…" I held my arm up to my face, keeping me from seeing the Pokémon's corpse. Suddenly, something began nuzzling my leg. Surprised, I looked down to see the blue Pokémon wiping his face off on my pants! I felt my body surge with happiness and I swiftly hugged the 'resurrected' Pokémon! I let the little guy down and realized that it was the Pokémon I was looking for, a Bagon!

"So that's why you weren't hurt from that fall." I muttered, embarrassed at how I didn't notice that before. I pet the baby Pokémon's head and laughed. I saw a shadow fly over me, and I grabbed Bagon and rolled out of the way of a wild Pokémon's attack! A Golbat hit the ground with a fierce Air Slash move! The bat Pokémon looked over at me with an unnerving Leer! I stood up and jumped aside to avoid Golbat's next attack! He flew in for a bite, trying to suck the blood of Bagon and me!

"No way am I going to let you hurt this Bagon!" I warned, Golbat clearly didn't care and flew in for another strike. "Where the hell is Wally at a time like this? I can't reach my Pokeballs without putting Bagon down, and Golbat is too fast to allow me to rest for even a second…"

Thinking of a strategy, I avoided Golbat who swooped down for a Wing Attack. I rubbed my side against a rock, unclipping a Pokeball from my belt. It dropped to the ground and I kicked it into action! Electrike burst from the ball and landed in front of us. The electro-canine growled at Golbat, who had his eerie leer plastered across his face.

"Electrike, use Shock Wave!"

Electrike lowered his front body and let loose a blast of electricity surging through the air! A sphere of energy surrounded Golbat and zapped him out of the air. The bat Pokémon plunged into the water.

"You did an awesome job, Electrike!" I congratulated my Pokémon by stroking his fur.

I looked over at Bagon who was staring up at me with his mouth open in a big smile. He wiped his face off on my pants again. I chuckled and pulled out an empty Pokeball.

"So Bagon, would you like to come with me?"

Before the Bagon could answer, a huge splash echoed through the cave! I jolted my attention to the sound and saw the Golbat crash on the ground in front of me. A wild Gyarados emerged from the cave's lake! The scared Bagon clicked the ball's button and hid inside of it, even though he knew it meant being captured. I stood up with Electrike ready to fight.

"This shouldn't be too difficult; we're stronger than this thing, right buddy?" Electrike barked and became cloaked with a bright white light!

Manectric emerged from the evolutionary energy field and growled intimidatingly! I ordered a Thunderbolt attack and my Pokémon unleashed a barrage of lightning shocks. Not even a Pokémon as powerful as Gyarados could last against that move! I grabbed another pokeball and hurled it at the weakened Pokémon!

"You're mine! Hiya!"

The ball went flying toward the Pokémon and it was inhaled right into the red and white sphere. The ball started to drop into the water but Manectric sped toward it and fetched it just as it clicked shut! The Pokedex began reacting to the ball and suddenly Gyarados' pokeball was teleported to the P.C. storage system without any explanation. I laughed and knelt down to pet my newly evolved Pokémon.

"Ha, anyone else in the cave want to challenge me?" I smirked at my arrogant challenge.

A huge shadow hovered over me, much larger than that of the Golbat from before. I couldn't see because the cave was dimly lit in the upper areas, where the creature was flying about. I heard the heavy flapping of its wings and a tremendous roar that caused me to shudder and cover my ears. It echoed through the cave. A bright light suddenly appeared and I ordered Manectric to use Thunderbolt on it, sensing the incoming Flamethrower attack! The two moves collided and burst into a cloud of smoke. The ground shook and I lost my balance and fell on the ground. Manectric was thrust into the air as the ground burst upward beneath him! I withdrew him before the rest of the Earthquake attack crushed him!

"What the hell is that thing!?" I grabbed Marshtomp's pokeball and got ready to send him out.

The dust and smoke began to settle and clear and I saw through the thick cloud a huge dragon Pokémon on the other side of the caverns low plateau. I dived to the side seeing the hot flames blaze toward me again, landing hard on the ground. I turned around and saw the stone pillar behind me turn into molten rock and collapse! I crawled back and got back on my feet throwing Marshtomp out just in time to protect myself from another attack! Marshtomp instinctively retaliated with Mud Shot, blocking the Flamethrower, but the foe charged toward us and struck the water ground type with a Dragon Claw attack! I could now see that the foe was a Salamence, and watching my Marshtomp get tossed through the air so effortlessly made me feel hopeless.

"No Marshtomp!" I ran to catch the Pokémon but was smacked aside by the dragon's tail! I coughed and my lungs felt heavy from getting hit in the chest with that attack. My ribs were probably broken now… I landed hard on the ground and watched the Salamence grab Marshtomp in its jaws and hurl it toward me viciously. My Pokémon couldn't take anymore, and that monster was still attacking… It wasn't defending its territory… no… this Salamence was on a rampage.

"Urk… Marshtomp… I'm so sorry…" I tossed Aron's ball out, hoping the defensive capabilities of his armor would be able to cover me while I helped Marshtomp. I struggled to roll on my side, looking at Marshtomp who was still conscious but completely immobile. He stared back at me with a blank expression. I could see he was still breathing but I was worried for how long… I turned my head and saw Aron get crushed by Salamence's tail. But the tail was lifted off my Pokémon! Lairon emerged from the crater completely unscathed! I was glad that Lairon could withstand a physical attack that powerful.

"Lairon, stay close to Salamence so he has to use physical attacks!" I ordered, Lairon kept the distance between the blue and red dragon at a minimum for a few minutes, but even though he could hold his own against the attacks, he still lost a lot of ground when that unbelievably strong dragon tossed him away and sent a blazing Flamethrower attack at the airborne Pokémon.

"Swablu, use Mirror Move!" A familiar voice yelled from across the cave.

A flamethrower attack just as powerful as Salamence's canceled out the fiery attack sent to finish off Lairon. Another burst of smoke covered the cave.

"As… if it wasn't… already hard to breathe with these broken… ribs!" I coughed, Wally came over and helped me get out of the smoke.

"Sorry I disappeared. I went to chase after this Swablu to capture it. I figured you'd be fine on your own but I was wrong about that." Wally walked toward the battle and Lairon came to my side carrying Marshtomp on his back. "Swablu Sing!"

Before the fluffy bird could release her melody, Salamence struck her and Wally down with his tail attack, sending them falling off the ledge! I heard Wally yell as he fell and a loud splash.

"Wally, are you alright?" I cried, having to bear witness to what could possibly have been the death of my friend. The cave was all silent except for the growling of that enraged dragon. I gritted my teeth in anger. I started to stand up, groaning because of the pain that was too hard to ignore. I coughed and felt a warmth ooze from my lips. I could tell it was blood, even though I didn't look. I didn't dare take my eyes off that Salamence.

"I don't care what I have to do… I will defeat you."

Lairon came to my side and I sent out Kadabra and Nuzleaf as well. I couldn't bear seeing Bagon out in the fight, it was very young and after seeing what it did to Marshtomp there was no way I'd be able to live with myself if Bagon was hurt…

"Kadabra use Confusion! Lairon hit that thing with Rock Tomb! Nuzleaf, use your Bide attack and cover the others!"

The Pokémon rushed into the fight, all ganging up on the powerful dragon. The psychic shockwaves stunned the dragon with confusion temporarily, just enough time for Lairon's Rock Tomb to trap the dragon! Nuzleaf stood in a defensive stance, bracing itself for attacks.

The rocks stayed still and I smiled. I actually defeated the Salamence! I looked down the ledge that Wally had fallen down. I saw Kirlia sitting over her trainer, Wally was conscious but it looked like he had the wind knocked out of him and couldn't talk. He raised his arm up and gave me the thumbs up. Swablu was lying knocked out beside the soaking wet green haired trainer. I smiled back at the three Pokémon who were looking cheering at their victory.

"We did it!" I jumped up, but immediately regretted that because of my injuries. I dropped to the ground, feeling all that pain I shut away come back again. My chest felt like someone had a boot on it and they were continuously stomping as hard as they could. I lowered myself to the ground, much too tired to hold up anymore.

"It's going to be a pain in the ass getting to a hospital like this…" I groaned.

A huge explosion nearly deafened me! More dust and debris flew through the air and rocks started dropping from the Rock Tomb! It wasn't defeated… no way! It was only slowed down! I sighed, feeling tears stream down my face. There was no way for me to beat it. I expelled all my energy with that last attack, and it didn't stop it. Nuzleaf countered with his Bide attack, releasing all the energy he took in from that explosion and directing it right into the underbelly of the Salamence. Salamence was sent flying, but with wings he was able to recover his balance and struck back with a Flamethrower, completely burning Nuzleaf to a crisp. I was too hurt to move and withdraw the Pokémon; all I could do was watch them all go down one by one. After Salamence was finished knocking out the last of my team, it stomped over to me. I looked up at it as it raised its left claw. The arm became engulfed with a purple and yellow flame. He was going to finish me off with Dragon Claw.

"Do it." I growled. I looked away and clenched my eyes shut tight. I heard a Pokeball burst open, was Wally back on his feet? Was he going to fight this Salamence again? No… it was the Bagon.

"No… don't do it!" I cried. Hurt me, but leave the child alone!

The Bagon started to speak to the Salamence, who wasn't attacking at all! I opened my eyes and saw that the Salamence's rage had completely subsided and it now had a look of sadness in its eyes as the Bagon spoke to it. I watched as the animated Pokémon began leaping in the air. It ran to a rock and jumped off it, imitating the soaring that the Salamence could do. I understood now why Bagon went with me. He wanted to evolve and be able to fly just like this Salamence, his mother!

The Salamence nodded and puffed out a cloud of smoke. It wasn't happy, but it wasn't enraged like before either. It grabbed my leg with its mouth and threw me onto its back. I yelled in pain, but I would rather be in pain than be eaten by this thing. I was able to move my arms now that I was sitting up, and I withdrew all of my fainted Pokémon. Bagon hopped on my shoulder and the dragon began to fly. I looked down at Wally, who had his Kirlia teleport him away to the Fallarbor Pokémon Center. Bagon wiped his mouth on my shirt and told something to Salamence, although it really just sounded like he said his own name a bunch of times. Salamence took off with incredible speed, soaring into the higher areas of the cave, maneuvering through and around the rocky pillars and arches throughout the chasm. She fired a Flamethrower attack and melted a thin section of rock and blasted through the wall and into the open air! The sun shone brightly in the sky, and it seemed to grow larger the higher we flew. Salamence stopped in the air for a moment, tilting her body down and speeding straight toward the red roofed building known as Fallarbor's Pokémon Center. With a swift flick of her wings the dragon swooped down and avoided a head on collision with the dark brown dirt of the agricultural town. Salamence crashed right through the doors of the Pokémon Center, scaring the hell out the nurse and all the resting trainers. Bagon hopped off my shoulder and pointed to my injuries. I tried speaking but I didn't have the strength left for that. My vision started getting blurry and I felt myself fall in the nurses arms but couldn't do anything. Couldn't speak, couldn't hear anything but the ringing of my ear drums. I closed my eyes, giving in to my exhaustion and pain…

.

.

.

"Brendan. Wake up; it's been like 2 days."

I opened my eyes, there was a bright light and I winced from it, I looked over, my vision still blurred from sleep. I could tell Wally was sitting next to me. I was also feeling puffs of hot air against my right side. I turned over and saw Bagon sleeping next to me, drooling on the bed sheets. I smiled at how cute the little Pokémon was, despite how wicked it'd become when it evolved all the way. I wiped my eyes and my eyesight cleared up.

"Did you say, two days?" I gasped surprised at how long I'd been unconscious. I knew I had somewhat of a tendency to over sleep, but that's just ridiculous!

"Yeah, you've been through two whole days of constant Soft Boiled Treatment. The Nurse said you had 3 completely broken ribs, and two of them were cracked. Your left leg and arm were sprained as well."

"Were?"

"Yeah, soft boiled treatments go a long way. The nurse said that after you woke up you'd be ready to continue." Wally smiled

I sat up and climbed out of the hospital bed. Bagon woke up from me moving and he jumped out of his drool puddle and wiped his face off on my backpack. He sure did drool a lot. I grabbed his Pokeball and withdrew him and got into the clean pair of clothe I had sitting on the desk beside the bed. I slipped my one strap bag on and walked out the door, Wally following.

When we got to Meteor Falls again, Salamence dropped down in front of us and blocked out path. I let Bagon out of his ball and the Salamence flicked its head, motioning for us to climb on its back. It flew us out of the cave and took sped up our return to Petalburg City. It dropped us off and said its final farewells to her child. Bagon cried a little watching his mother fly off into the sunset. I picked up the baby dragon and hugged it. The little runt wiped his face in my shirt as I pet him.

"Damn, it's already sunset? I was almost out for three whole days… and I'm still pretty exhausted too."

"Quit your complaining, you got the soft boiled treatment. They gave me a bag of ice and said: 'Hope you feel better.'"

I laughed and stopped my whining. We headed right to the Pokémon Gym. I wasn't even worried about what Norman would think. I survived a battle against a rampaging Salamence. I wasn't going to let an old man scare me… of course, that thought process changed when I saw him in person soon after.

"Brendan, is that really you?" May's father asked me, and Wally and I entered his arena. He looked over at Wally too. "Wally? Your parents were so worried about you. They heard from your aunt and uncle that you were on your Pokémon journey."

"With all due respect, Norman… we're here for a battle and that's all." I stated coolly.

Norman sighed and looked down. I couldn't see his face clearly, but I knew that he had a look of disapproval on his face. He didn't want to battle us because we ran away from home. League rules made it so he couldn't refuse a challenge though.

"If I win, you're little adventure ends. Both of you will go back home and quit hiding around Rustboro and Verdenturf." Even though he heard that we made it to Verdenturf, he didn't believe we were actually strong trainers. He'd soon experience the strength we've gained from our harsh trials.

"We accept, but we won't lose." I unzipped my jacket and flashed the four badges I collected on my journey with a smirk on my face.

Norman's eyes widened in surprise, Wally showed him the badges he collected as well.

"So you two weren't just hiding in low level areas… how… how did you get to Dewford?" He shook his head and dismissed the question before we could answer.

Norman grabbed the first pokeball from his belt and threw it toward the center of the arena. The ball shot out a red beam and formed the silhouette of a reptilian Pokémon. Kecleon stepped from the red beam and stuck out his long tongue. Norman scoffed and informed us that he was strong enough to take both of us on at once. Wally and I threw out our Pokémon: Lairon and Swablu. My metal clad Pokémon was tough enough to survive a Salamence, there's no way Norman's little Kecleon could damage me much.

"Now Kecleon," Norman raised his arm, pointing at my Lairon.

His Pokémon suddenly vanished! Wally and I swung our heads all around, scanning the room for any sign of the Pokémon. Suddenly, Lairon was struck with a Brick Break attack! My Pokémon was smashed into the ground, leaving a crater. I cringed hearing the ground crack and watching the small flakes of the tile floor hover in the air as time slowed down. I spotted a red zigzag above Lairon for a moment, before the shape dashed away to the safety of the red outlines surrounding the arena.

"Lairon, you can still fight… right?" Lairon stood up and used Roar. He was mad that the Pokémon was out of his sight. The Roar attack blasted powerful wind and sound toward Norman's side of the field, I was able to see the red zigzag flying through the air.

"Lairon, use Rock Tomb now!" I commanded, throwing my arm up and aiming my finger at the near invisible Kecleon. Lairon summoned large boulders above the transparent Pokémon and they crashed all around him, covering him in stone and preventing him from moving. Wally, now able to see where the foe was, began his attack.

"Swablu sing!"

The blue and white cotton-bird closed her eyes and hummed a soothing melody to the immobilized Kecleon. The Pokémon fell asleep and his original green color returned. Norman grunted and withdrew his fainted Pokémon.

"Not bad… but let's see if you can stop my next Pokémon, go Linoone!" May's father hurled the pokeball out on the field.

Linoone came out to fight next. It had a long body and white and brown fur that formed an arrow on his forehead. The Pokémon was among the fastest Pokémon in the world, able to accelerate to an immediate 60mph! With a swift motion, Norman ordered an attack. Linoone vanished before our eyes, not because of camouflage like Kecleon, but because of his sheer speed. Swablu was hit, and Wally's Pokémon dropped to the ground no longer able to battle anymore.

Wally cursed and took Swablu's pokeball and returned her to the ball. Meanwhile Linoone dug a hole in the ground, hiding from my Lairon. My Pokémon treaded toward the hole, preparing to cover it with his Rock Tomb and hopefully trap the Pokémon underground. Before he arrived, the room shook and Linoone burst from beneath the surface, shooting into the air and piercing Lairon! My Pokémon flew back and landed unconscious on his back. I withdrew him and Wally and I simultaneously sent out our next Pokémon: Kirlia and Marshtomp.

"Marshtomp, use Mud Shot and make the ground too slippery for Linoone!"

"Kirlia read Linoone's thoughts and determine where he will be next."

Our Pokémon obeyed the order and the floor of the arena became soaked in mud, making Linoone unable to grip the floor without losing his balance. Kirlia focused her thoughts and power on reading Linoone's mind. Wally's Pokémon was glowing blue as she used her telekinetic powers to lift Linoone up and immobilize him.

"Now Marshtomp, use Mud shot directly on Linoone!"

"Not so fast, Linoone use Hyper Beam."

Linoone opened his mouth and fired a powerful laser that blew Marshtomp back into the wall. My Pokémon dropped from the wall and splashed into the swampy floor. I growled angrily at that cheap shot and withdrew my Pokémon. Kirlia started to hurl the recharging Pokémon around the room, hitting him against the floor and ceiling and ultimately throwing him on the opposite wall, much like how Marshtomp was hit. Linoone collapsed on the ground, but stood up for one last attack. He opened his mouth for another Hyper Beam. Kirlia didn't have any of it and simply spun and danced around the incredibly powerful laser. Then she used Shock Wave and zapped the last of Linoone's hit points away. Norman called back his second fallen Pokémon. He flashed a worried look, wondering if he might actually lose the battle, but quickly reverted to his usual stern and emotionless gaze.

"You two have really gotten strong… I think it was a mistake to challenge both of you at once…" He muttered. "But it's not over yet. Now watch me as I crush the rest of your Pokémon with Slaking!" He shouted, extending his arm and releasing Slaking, the Truant Pokémon, into battle.

Slaking was big, he was strong. A behemoth like that would certainly be unstoppable for even trainers as powerful as Wally and I. But, it had a major flaw. Despite its sheer power and capability, Slaking was much too lazy to move every turn. If I can manage to stun him with Manectric's lightning attacks, it will cripple him even more!

"Manectric, I need your help!" I called out my Pokémon's name and sent his ball flying down field. It burst open with a 'POP!' and Manectric shot out of the ball in a shield of sparks. I caught his ball and clipped it to my belt.

"Wally, let's hit him with our electric attacks."

Wally nodded and his Kirlia used another Shock Wave! I told Manectric to strike him with a Thunderbolt attack, both Pokémon moved quickly, combining their electricity with each other's and creating a turbo-charged attack! The attack flashed toward Slaking, but had no effect on him at all!

"What?" My eyes widened in surprise, an attack that powerful doing nothing to Slaking?

Norman smirked, "My Slaking is much faster than you think. An instant before the attack hit, he threw the mud on the ground in front of him to cancel out your attack. Your electric moves will have no effect on me."

"Using the field to your advantage… I knew you were tough, but this is starting to get ridiculous." I groaned.

Manectric was an Electric Pokémon; most of his moves were electric. And with Slaking being too fast for my Pokémon to hit him what could I do?

_I can't use Thunderbolt…_

_I can't use Shock Wave…_

_Charge would be pointless…_

That's when it hit me. The way Lairon used Roar before, sending Kecleon flying into the air. What if I could do the same thing with Manectric's Roar? My attack would send the mud flying in the air, and Kirlia could turn the flying mud into an attack! Speaking of whom, was tapping into my mind and relaying the plan back to Wally. I looked over and he nodded in agreement. He had that awesome look of fiery determination, with this plan there is no way we could lose!

"Manectric, use Roar!"

The yellow and blue canine motioned for a howl, but rather than raising his head to the air, he aimed at the foe and let loose a tremendous bark! The sound waves could literally be seen and the mud from my previous attacks began to peel from the floor and fly through the air. Kirlia used her psychic powers to catch hold of these flying pieces and create a psychic mud bomb! The attack sped right toward Slaking, who was too busy loafing around to counter. The combo attack wrecked Slaking, forming a large crater in the ground from the explosive results of the attack! When the dust cloud cleared, Slaking was laying in the center of it, his eyes closed and his body motionless.

"Ha! We did it!" Wally exclaimed.

"Don't flatter yourself."

The injured Slaking pulled himself out of the crater and stomped on the ground, the entire room shook and cracks sped their way toward our Pokémon. The ground burst from beneath them, crashing down on Manectric and Kirlia! It was an Earthquake attack, and knocked out both of our Pokémon with the attack!

"Damn…" I cursed, withdrawing my Pokémon. I had hoped that last attack would be strong enough; I figured it was considering the size of that crater. I got another idea for how to take it down.

"Kadabra, I choose you!"

"Go, Lombre!"

Wally threw in his Lombre alongside my Kadabra. I hadn't told him what my plan was yet, so I was lucky that he chose this Pokémon.  
"Wally, have your Lombre fill up that crater with water."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Wally nodded and ordered his Lombre to use Hydro Pump inside the crater. The grass-water type blasted a powerful stream of water out of his mouth and the giant hole in the floor began to flood rapidly.

"Kadabra grab hold of Slaking with your psychic powers!"

Slaking began to glow blue and purple and was thrust into the air. Kadabra dropped Slaking beneath the water and held the behemoth submerged.

"That's one hell of a dangerous tactic you're using." Norman scoffed.

Slaking struggled to break free from Kadabra's hold. He failed to swim to the surface and manage a breath of air. Panicking and losing focus the Slaking flailed about beneath the pond made by Lombre.

"Slaking use Earthquake"

"How will he use that? He can't stomp on the ground." Wally questioned.

"Just watch." Norman smirked.

Slaking stopped struggling. He focused his mind and body and clapped his hands creating an incredible shock wave. The water in the crater shot out, drenching the entire arena with water. Kadabra was blown off balance and fell to the ground, Slaking leaped out of the crater and Body Slammed my Pokémon.

"Lombre hit him with Toxic!"

Wally's Pokémon spilled oozing poison from his claws and slashed the foe's Pokémon, infecting him with a nauseous toxin. Slaking's eyes widened and the Pokémon fell over and began to vomit on the ground as the poison took effect. Enraged, Slaking thrust his arm into Lombre's chest, sending him flying into the air! Lombre hit the ground and fainted. Wally and I withdrew both of our fallen partners and sent out our next last Pokémon.

"Go Grovyle!" Wally threw the ball onto the field and his Grovyle burst from the ball. The swift reptilian grass type flipped in the air and landed on both feet like a ninja.

"Bagon, it's up to you!" I held up Bagon's ball and released the baby dragon.

My Pokémon looked back at me, he was drooling an absurd amount. Curious as to why this was happening, I took my Pokedex and scanned Bagon to make sure he wasn't sick. As it turns out, my Pokémon knew the move Hydro Pump, but because it was at such a young age, it couldn't control the water in its body and was constantly leaking out! Bagon skipped over to me and wiped his face on my pants.

"We can play later Bagon; right now I need you to use your Hydro Pump attack on that Slaking." I knelt down to speak to my Pokémon, who nodded in return. The small dragon opened his mouth and unleashed a tremendous water attack, one that was larger than the Pokémon's body! Slaking was blown back into the wall, trapped there from the high velocity water works. Grovyle moved in for the finishing blow raising his arm and slicing down with a Leaf Blade attack.

"No way…" Norman shook his head in amazement. He knew us as little kids with no real power, but after witnessing that battle he could no longer see us like that. It was hard for him to come to terms with. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before he stepped before us and presented the Balance Badge.

"I lost, congratulations you two." He dropped the badges in our hands. "The least you could do is go and visit your home for a few days. You don't have to stay, but at least assure your family that you are both alright."

He was right about that, it was the least we could do. Although my dad already knew about my journey and explained it to my mom of course, Wally had a different story. He had some explaining to do and I left him to deal with his family issues alone. I on the hand returned to Littleroot Town. My mom and dad nearly tackled me with a group hug as I entered my own home. It was great getting to eat one of mom's homemade meals again. My dad was really excited to see all the Pokémon I had captured. I let them all stay out of their Pokeballs and hang around the lab with him. I went home and rested on my bed. It had been so long that I forgot what my own bed felt like. I missed this place a lot. I glanced out my window; May's house was across the way. I could see her window and I imagined her looking back at me, smiling and waving just like she used to.

The sun was down and I turned out the lights. Littleroot was no city, so the stars and moon were completely exposed in the night sky. My room appeared blue from the moonlight flooding in from my open window. The breeze was excellent, a more natural version of a fan. I crossed my hands behind my head and rested my head down. It really was good to be back. I closed my eyes and peacefully dozed away into a pleasant sleep…


	6. Chapter 6

A.N./ There are only 2 more chapters left until the mid season finale of Run Away! A big climax in Chapter 8 and then a long break until chapter 9. In case you don't understand, Chapter 8 will be the last steady chapter. It will take several months for the next season to be written and released. The original story ended during that chapter, but this time I made it so the story can continue. Enjoy this story, it's about to get hostile!

Run Away Chapter 6: Huntress

I stayed home for a few days; I was tired from my travels and felt that my team should experience the comforts of my home life. Most of the time they were with my Dad and he studied them. The second night he came inside for dinner really happy and said I had come home just in time. Apparently, it was time for my Pokémon to evolve and most of them did so. When I got them back I found that Kadabra had evolved into Alakazam, and Bagon into Shelgon! The next morning I met up with Wally on Route 103. His Pokémon evolved too, his Swablu was now an Altaria and he had a Raichu now. He explained that the egg hatched shortly after getting home, and only a few hours later it evolved. His Kirlia was a full-fledged Gardevoir now. We crossed the river to Route 110, and crossed another river outside of Mauville city to get to Route 119.

Route 119 was a dense jungle; there was a huge field of seven foot tall grass! People were lost inside and challenged us to a battle, Shelgon ended up burning down most of the field with his Flamethrower attack, and had to work together with Marshtomp to put it out. We met a man with a flock of Wingull who couldn't fly him around and took on some Pokémon Rangers. We arrived at a huge facility called The Weather Institute. Wally went inside because he found it interesting. I walked over to the ledge and leaned over a wooden fence. I could see the entire jungle from atop this cliff! A stranger walked and stood next to me. I didn't see her face and I started talking to her, pointing out into the jungle.

"It's beautiful from up here; but when you're actually down there, it's vicious." I smiled.

"Brendan…"

That all too familiar voice said my name, I turned toward the girl. I had been standing next to _her _the whole time! She looked into my eyes, her deep blue eyes calm but worried. She stepped closer to me, and I took a step back.

"No… not you… not now…" I looked over at the Weather Institute where Wally was. I spotted him looking down at the two of us from a window. His face was grave and he dashed from the window.

_How does Wally know about May? I don't think I've told him about her… Maybe his Gardevoir read my thoughts to him…_

May was closing in; she was less than a foot away from me, her arm reaching out to grab me. I backed away, tripping over a root. I crawled back, leaping to my feet and dashing across a log bridge extending over a crashing waterfall. May was in hot pursuit, she was much faster then I remember her being. She was gaining on me I passed the edge of the bridge and two figures suddenly appeared in front of me. Their green hair was all I needed to see to recognize them. Gardevoir and Wally walked past me, guarding the bridge.

"You go. I'll take care of things here." Wally assured, flashing a confident smile toward me.

Wally faced forward, glaring at the girl nearing the end of the bridge. I hid in the foliage nearby, neither of them knew I was watching and listening the whole time.

"Get out of the way! I have to talk to him!" May growled, clenching her fists tightly. She scanned the area behind him trying to see where I had run off too.

"You're chase ends here. I know who you are, and I know what you did." Wally stated. His hands were balled into fists and Gardevoir was tense.

"What are you talking about?" May was taken aback by this, she was starting to sweat. I don't know how Wally knew about any of the things that happened between May and I. I kept that stuff private, and I didn't want to get Wally involved with it any more than he already was.

"Brendan talks in his sleep. Every single night it's the same nightmare over and over again. I don't know what you did to him, but I'll make sure to get you back for causing my best friend to suffer."

May had tears streaming down her cheek. Her fists were extremely tight; it looked like her gloves were going to tear!

"Idiot… you think I don't know that I hurt him…" I couldn't hear the rest; her voice was cracking too much and she quieted down to a near whisper. Wally relaxed though, he wasn't as angry with her. What the hell was happening down there?

May suddenly outburst, she was mad and Wally knew it. She tossed out a Pokémon to attack Wally! A Grumpig burst from the ball and started to bounce on the bridge. May barked a command and Grumpig hurled a Shadow Ball at Gardevoir, who protected herself with Light Screen! The black and purple ball exploded upon contact with the shield, Gardevoir skidded back and Grumpig flew through the dark smoke, strike Wally's Pokémon with its whole body! Gardevoir flung the foe back with a Psychic attack, throwing it back into the smoke! The smoke cleared and Grumpig was standing up, hunched over and ready for more.

"Gardevoir, use your own Shadow Ball!" Wally flung his arm up, directing his aim toward May's Grumpig.

Gardevoir prepped her attack, positioning her arms at her side and forming a ball with a circular motion. She thrust her arms forward and the dark sphere flew towards Grumpig! The attack collided with the thick Pokémon, surging a horrid energy into its body and sending it flying across the bridge. Grumpig crashed into the dirt on the other side of the chasm. The psychic type struggled to stand up, but after May called out its name a fire began to ignite in its eyes, just like the one she had in her own. The Pokémon began to glow with a purple aura and it leaped back into battle.

"Grumpig use Hyper Beam!" May commanded.

_ No way! There's no way for Wally to move aside, he'd fall off the bridge!_

May's Pokémon began to charge the ultimate attack; a huge red ball was glowing above its arms which were held above its head. Grumpig thrust down its arms and fired to massive laser at Gardevoir and Wally!

Wally merely grinned and Gardevoir thrust herself in front of the attack, she summoned a swirling dark vortex that completely absorbed the attack! Her eyes were different than usual. Normally, Gardevoir was calm and collected. Some would even say sweet. But this look on her face was terrifying. I was scared of it and I wasn't even in the fight. Gardevoir's attack vanished, and she charged toward Grumpig and attacked with a gruesome psychic blast, it looked like Grumpig was going to be torn in half from the blast! May's Pokémon was thrown off the bridge from the psychic energy and May was forced to withdraw her Pokémon. Wally could see that Gardevoir had over exerted herself too much and it was dangerous to let her battle anymore. He called her back and tossed in his next Pokémon at the same time as May.

"Go, Grovyle!" Wally threw in the Pokémon Professor Birch bestowed to him after the Slateport Tournament. Grovyle quickly leaped onto the bridge. He swung the blade-like leaves on his arms and hissed at May.

"Go Combusken!" May shouted, throwing out the pokeball containing her starter Pokémon. The Pokémon fired a flamethrower into the air from its beak.

The sky was flooded with grey, gloomy clouds. It began to rain. Wally had an advantage now; Combusken's fire attacks wouldn't do anything in the rain. The first turn of combat began, Grovyle dashed toward Combusken, its leaf blades drawn and sharp! It slashed the fire chick across the neck, torso, and jabbed its knees! Combusken cried out in pain, but May ordered an attack. Grovyle was grabbed by the neck and shoved to the floor. Combusken's talons pressed up against the reptile's scales and dug into his neck. Grovyle screeched and tried kicking Combusken off.

"Combusken, use Double Kick!"

May's Pokémon began kicking Grovyle, hitting once while still grappling the grass type, and the second time kicking him away, with the claws scraping down Grovyle's torso! Grovyle flipped and landed, despite being kicked into the air and off balance; his razor like claws carving into the log bridge as he skidded back.

"Grovyle, don't give up yet! Attack now with Quick Attack!"

Grovyle appeared to move slowly, however there were so many afterimages following his movements that it was impossible for him to be going slow! The grass type rushed toward Combusken with such incredible speed, knocking the fire-fighting type off its feet and sending it flying back! Combusken rolled across the logs, weakened by the rain that was now pouring down hard. Combusken got back up and yelled. Its body became surrounded by a red aura. Combusken's Blaze ability activated, and the fire type's Flamethrower attack was powerful enough to evaporate the heavy downpour and effectively knock out Grovyle! The grass type dropped to its knees, supporting its upper body with one arm and reaching toward the opponent; not ready to give in yet. Combusken finished off Grovyle by bringing its arm crashing down upon his head. Wally gasped and withdrew his fainted Pokémon. He sent in his water type: Lombre!

"Lombre use your Hydro Pump now!" Powered up by the rain, it was going to knock down that Combusken no matter what.

Lombre opened its mouth wide, firing the high velocity water cannon from inside its body. The attack was much larger with the rain boost! Combusken retaliated with its Flamethrower attack; the fire attack was surprisingly holding its own against the water as the two strikes collided! Blaze was powering up the flamethrower, but with the rain and the type advantage, hydro pump overtook the fire attack and consumed May's Pokémon. Combusken was done, completely drenched and unconscious. May withdrew her Pokémon and screamed in frustration. She threw out her Beautifly to counter Lombre's types.

"Beautifly, use Silver Wind!"

"Lombre look out!" Wally cried, but it the attack was unavoidable.

Lombre was blown back into Wally, the two of them falling down onto the wet logs of the bridge. Lombre was knocked out and no longer able to battle. The green haired trainer stood up, gently placing the Pokémon down while searching for its ball. Suddenly, Lombre began glowing and surging with energy! The Pokémon jumped up, cloaked in a blinding light. It grew taller and wider as it evolved. Wally looked down and saw that the Water Stone Steven had given him in Dewford had fallen out of his pocket and came into contact with Lombre!

"Lombre evolved… into Ludicolo!" Wally exclaimed. His Pokémon started to dance, revived and full of power. "Ludicolo, use Ice Beam on that Beautifly."

Ludicolo shook his body in a funky dance and opened his duck-like beak, firing a chunk of ice that trailed a frosty beam! The rain began to freeze from the attack, spreading out the ice beam with pointed icicles protruding from the cold attack! Beautifly's wings were penetrated by one of the icicles and the bug-flying type was no longer able to maintain flight. The Pokémon dropped to the floor, covered in ice and frost!

"Beautifly!" May cried.

Her head was down; she withdrew her Pokémon and coughed. Both trainers were pale; the cold of the rain was starting to get to them. I felt bad, I was hiding in the bushes under a tree, safe from the chilling downpour, but those two were out there fighting for me. They'd get sick and their Pokémon were getting seriously hurt over it. I wanted to run out and stop the fight… but I was too weak. I couldn't do it. I gritted my teeth and May sent out Swellow and ordered an attack on Ludicolo.

"Aerial Ace!" May shouted.

The black and white bird dived down and sped toward Wally's Pokémon, who was firing Ice Beam attacks to take down the bird. Aerial Ace's quick maneuvers allowed for Swellow to swiftly and gracefully dodge each and every frozen attack of Ludicolo's, and before long the grass-water type was struck with the powerful wings of Swellow! Ludicolo was thrown back from the strike, losing his balance and tripping on the wet log bridge.

Ludicolo stood up. Despite the type weakness, the jolly Pokémon was bulky enough to take on more of Swellow's attacks. Wally ordered another Ice Beam attack and Ludicolo once more projected an icy jet toward the flying type. Swellow wasn't able to avoid it and his wing was struck! May's Pokémon twirled down, crashing into the bridge. He wasn't done fighting yet, but he wasn't going to be flying anytime soon. Ice laced across his left wing and the more rain trickled down his feathers, the further the ice was spreading! Ludicolo stood over the bird Pokémon and swiftly kicked it back toward May. May withdrew her Pokémon and grunted her next Pokémon's name as she tossed its ball into battle. A Vigoroth came out to fight! May's look was different now, she must have been close to that Swellow because she was fighting much harder.

"Vigoroth Slash!"

Up until now, it had been a close match; but that Vigoroth was able to take down Ludicolo with that one attack, despite the rain recovering Wally's Pokémon's health with Rain Dish. Ludicolo hit the ground hard, and Wally had to return his Ludicolo before the opponents hyper Pokémon tore him to pieces.

Ludicolo was replaced with Loudred, who was also struck with a Slash attack! This Vigoroth was insanely powerful! Loudred attacked with Hyper Voice. His wide mouth was able to emit a noise so loud that even I had to cover my ears and I was watching from a distance! Vigoroth was flipped back and landed face first on the bridge. May ordered an attack, I couldn't hear exactly what she said because my ears were ringing, but I could see that the move was Reversal. Vigoroth's fists ignited with a brown aura and he punched Loudred back, returning all damage done to him and doubling it onto Loudred! Water droplets shot up as Loudred skidded back through the puddles forming across the log bridge. His face was pained, and Loudred didn't move at all. He didn't make a sound even though his mouth was gaping, didn't blink even though his eyes were twitching, just stood there as if he was frozen. Finally Loudred collapsed in defeat. Wally apologized to his Pokémon for having him endure such a powerful attack.

"Go Raichu!" Wally tossed out his newest Pokémon, whom he hatched from an egg received in Lavaridge. He had hatched and evolved it during our break at home and this was his first real battle.

"Use Thunder!"

With the rainstorm overhead, there was no way the attack would miss. May and Vigoroth both looked to the darkened heavens. A bright light began to pool above Vigoroth as electrical energy compressed itself among the rainclouds. A massive bolt of lightning fulgurated down and crashed into the bridge like a raging dragon! Vigoroth was completely singed, his fur burnt black and sticking out from the left over static electricity. May smirked.

"Endure." She said. Her Pokémon stood back up and trudged over to Raichu. Raichu had an expression of fear. Seeing the look of the irate and energized Pokémon, I'd be scared too. Vigoroth used Reversal on the little Pokémon, sending it flying across the bridge.

_If May keeps hitting him with that Endure Reversal combo, Wally won't stand a chance… but Vigoroth can't survive another attack and Wally's last Pokémon is much faster._

"Altaria, you're the last one! No pressure!" Wally tossed out his final Pokémon, Altaria! The humming dragon sung a song and folded her wings atop Wally's head. Wally aimed his finger at Vigoroth and Altaria used Dragon Breath! The purple and yellow flames and sparks of the attack swallowed Vigoroth like a cloud overtaking an airplane. The flames consumed him and left him unable to battle. May swapped him out with her last Pokémon: a Gloom.

_Wally has this match in the bag. A grass type won't be able to defeat a dragon-flying type! _

"Gloom, use Stun Spore."

The pungent flower released a powerful neurotoxin all over Altaria! The dragon was crippled and dropped to the ground unable to move!

_I spoke too soon; she really does have the skill of her father…_

Gloom used Sunny Day next, the sky opened up and a ray of bright light illuminated the bridge! Mist began to rise as the puddles on the bridge began to evaporate. The blank stone that evolved Lombre earlier began to into the energy of the sun and it became a different evolutionary stone! Gloom touched the Sun Stone and began to evolve, morphing into a Bellossom!

"Bellossom, use Solar Beam!" May ordered shining a confident smile. Both trainers were drenched from the heavy rainstorm from before, which was still pouring around them. Thanks to May's Sunny Day attack, they were drying off quickly. Bellossom took in the sunlight and fired a blast that was outlined with the colors of the rainbow. Altaria was resistant to the attack, but being paralyzed made her unable to retaliate or avoid! After four solar beams, Altaria was knocked out and blown back into Wally. The two fell back, landing hard on the bridge! His bird Pokémon was crying and had an apologetic expression. Wally hugged the Pokémon and comforted her even in defeat. May ran past him and stopped. She looked down at the defeated trainer.

"I could've fixed all this. I wanted to make things right, but Brendan won't stop running from me… I didn't have to hurt your Pokémon like that, but he means a lot to me and I want him back."

_She… wants me back? But she said she never wanted to see me again! I can't see her face so I don't know if she's being sincere or not… why does it have to feel so bad?_

May took off toward the rain forest hoping to find me. I waited several minutes after she had gone. The rain was back and I walked toward Wally, who was lying on the ground exhausted. I helped him up and we trudged toward the nearby town of Fortree.

"Sorry I couldn't win… I thought I had her, but she was just too smart for me." Wally sighed.

"It's not your fault; I shouldn't have gotten you involved in all this drama." I replied.

We entered the Pokémon Center and the Nurse, seeing how soaked we were, immediately brought us blankets. She took Wally's Pokémon into the intensive treatment room.

"Brendan, May is probably going to be here soon. You should get going. I'll catch up to you later."

"Right, I will see you." I left the Pokémon center and headed to the center of town where the gym was.

Fortree City was nothing like the other cities we've been too. There was only one building that actually touched the ground, the rest were small huts build around the massive trees of the rain forest. The skies had cleared up and the coniferous forest floor was surprisingly dry. I hopped on a ladder and started my ascent to the canopy, where most of the buildings resided.

"Ugh! You smell like you were in a volcano." The man at the top of the ladder cringed and turned away. I guess my hat still had some volcanic ash on it. The gym was close; I could see the familiar brown roofed building in a forest clearing below. I guess there was more than one building that touched the ground. I slid down the ladder by grabbing onto the sides and loosening my grip. My gloves slide down the polished wood smoothly and I caught myself just before touching base. The doors opened and a blast of cool air conditioned beauty hit me.

"What the hell is this?" I looked around, seeing a maze structure and revolving doors.

I entered the first revolving door; it spun around and then suddenly locked, throwing me into the window. I slammed my face hard into the glass and grunted in pain. Angry, I walked out of that door.

"So now I have a maze with doors that are broken… perfect."

The gym doors opened behind me and I turned around prepared to fight whoever was coming. I was anticipating that it was May, but thank the heavens that it was my 'mentor' Steven.

"Ah, Brendan, I was hoping I wouldn't have missed the gym battle. Wally told me you were here and I came to see how much you've improved." Steven spoke much differently since the subject wasn't about rocks. He was much more calm and reserved as opposed to the excited and passionate Steven I met before.

"Yeah well, I'm not going to be having a gym battle. The door is broken." I pouted.

Steven walked up to the revolving door and pushed it the opposite way. "It's a revolving door maze. You have to walk through and find which way the doors go to get to the right path. Follow me; I'll take you through it."

The silver haired rock collector was able to navigate his way through the maze like he had it memorized. He opened every single door correctly with not a single instance of mistake. I followed him, happy that he was helping me but unsure how to express it. So I stayed silent as I walked behind him. The gym leader was Winona; she was relaxing when I walked in the room. She stood up gracefully and grinned seeing her newest challenger. She glanced over and saw Steven Stone walking toward the side lines. And she immediately locked up her body.

"Champion Stone, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were visiting today."

"Relax, Winona. I'm just here to watch the boy's battle. Give it your best shot."

I nodded and kicking my leg back and planting it firm against the ground. My arms prepped at my sides and I tossed out Manectric to handle the Skarmory she sent in to fight. Her Pokémon was a steel clad bird, although despite being covered in armor, it was still very fast and agile! Manectric attacked with Thunderbolt, shooting out jolts of lightning strikes to attack the foe. Skarmory avoided each of them, using the Aerial Ace attack! I saw May use this technique earlier, so she must've already defeated Winona. Seeing May use the attack, I knew exactly where Skarmory was heading.

"Manectric use Thunderbolt behind you now!"

Manectric was hesitant, because I was behind him. The canine jumped forward and his hind legs skidded around, firing the attack toward me. Skarmory flashed in between me and the attack and was zapped out of commission! Skarmory dropped to the ground, a loud clang echoed through the room. Winona looked nervous because of Steven's presence. Her losing didn't look good normally, but in front of her boss it was the worst thing that could possibly happen.

"Skarmory return…" She returned her Pokémon her face was tense and she sent out an Altaria next.

"My best friend Wally uses an Altaria; I don't think there's much you can do to counter my electric type." I smirked arrogantly.

It was a typical scenario. I spoke too soon and my opponent does something I don't expect. Her Altaria slammed into the ground. The impact sent shockwaves surging throughout the arena, the room began to shake. The ground cracked beneath Manectric's feet and soon the floor ruptured up and crashed down on my Pokémon! It was an Earthquake attack, and I just lost my ace in the hole.

"No! Manectric…" I ran to the arena, digging out my Pokémon and returning it to his ball.

_Lairon's rock tomb was my back up plan. But since Altaria knows earthquake, Lairon won't be able to stand a chance! Who do I use now…? Wait a second… Alakazam knows Ice Punch now! I forgot my dad taught it new moves!_

"Go Alakazam!" I threw out my psychic Pokémon's ball. Alakazam was one of the smartest Pokémon in the world. He must have been using his power to watch the battle from my eyes, because he started hovering to avoid another one of Altaria's Earthquake attacks!

"Alakazam, use Ice Punch!" I commanded.

My psychic Pokémon waved his left hand over his right, covering his fist with frost and forming icicles extending off his knuckles. Alakazam rushed toward the foe his frosty fist cocked back and ready to strike! Altaria ducked beneath Alakazam's cross and bashed its head into my Pokémon's abdomen. Alakazam jerked back, he growled in anger. Altaria shifted to the side, avoiding the second punch and hitting Alakazam again! Alakazam didn't have very good defense, so even after those two hits he was starting to feel it and I could tell.

_ Alakazam, you can't miss. You have to hit this foe… wait I know! _

"Alakazam use Psychic to hold Altaria down then take her out with Ice Punch!"

Alakazam's eyes gleamed brilliant blue! The spoons in each hand bent and twisted around as his mind began to take control of the foe's movements. Alakazam bashed the foe into the ground, locking it down with his mind. His fist, still covered with the icicles from the previous attack, was prepped to strike down Winona's flying-dragon.

**WHACK!**

Alakazam stood over the foe. Altaria had frost permeating over its face, spreading down its blue neck and toward her left wing.

"Altaria, Dragon Breath!"

Although it seemed the foe was defeated, she had enough power for one last attack. From the cloud-like bird's beak illuminated a radiant array of purple and yellow flames. The mystic attack conflagrated Alakazam, and my Pokémon as well became no longer able to battle.

"Hey got me." Winona sighed.

The gym leader sulked over in defeat. She handed me the gym badge, admitting that her grace wasn't able to overcome my wit. Steven clapped and thanked the gym leader for allowing him to observe, and I bowed in appreciation for the battle. With six gym badges in my possession, I was on my way to becoming the toughest trainer in the region!

Steven and I went our separate ways. He explained that he was going to stay with Wally and observe his battle as well. Curiosity got the better of him and he asked me why the two of us weren't traveling together. I pointed out that it was only temporary and that we'd meet up again in Lilycove City. Steven nodded and headed west, I headed east toward Route 120.

The sun was setting and it looked like I would be camping out tonight. I started to set up my sleeping bag on the ground, but before I was able to unhook it from my bag I felt an eerie presence nearby. I peered behind me, seeing a pair of red eyes in the tall grass behind me. Startled, I jumped forward and swerved to face it. A wild Absol emerged from the tall grass, staring me down with its radiant red eyes. The white furred Pokémon flicked its head, motioning for me to follow. I grabbed my bag and started after it.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into, I am fully aware that Absol appears when disaster is imminent. However, something told me that I needed to follow Absol… something told me I was about to stop some disaster. I smiled thinking about being the hero and saving others as I chased the wild Pokémon through the diminishing rainforest and into the resort like area of Route 121. The sun was descending beneath the horizon, the sky vivid orange and red.

_Tonight is going to be exciting._


	7. Chapter 7

The next chapter is the mid season finale, enjoy it while it's here.

Run Away Chapter 7: Reaper

"Absol," I called out to the Pokémon in front of me. He stopped in front of the moat surrounding Mt. Pyre.

Mt. Pyre was the fortress of an ancient civilization converted into a Pokémon cemetery for modern use. It was a great place to capture ghost type Pokémon, and I even heard that the ringing of Chimecho had the power to soothe and heal people and Pokémon. I stepped beside Absol and we both looked toward the large mountain. Absol jumped in the water and began swimming through the water to reach the entrance. I jumped in too and followed in his wake.

I climbed ashore behind the dark type Pokémon. The mountain loomed over us and the entrance to the fort was straight ahead. I followed the Pokémon who was pretty on edge. The gates were open, why wouldn't they be, it's a public place. The weird thing was the fact that it looked like the gate hasn't been touched for weeks. Cobwebs completely coated the metal bars.

Inside the lights flickered. The owners installed a modern light system to replace the torches of the ancient days, although their current condition wasn't all too great. There was a person lying unconscious on the floor. I rushed over to them.

"Hey are you okay?"

They were lying on their stomach, so I turned them over and saw that their iris was completely white! I jumped back and yelled in shock. They were still breathing and had a pulse. It was slow, but certainly was there. I stood up and looked around the room. Absol was sitting impatiently by a door to the far right of me. I followed him out the door and we ascended up a shadowy staircase.

The moonlight was bright outside, but soon changed as dark clouds moved in and cloaked the sky. It was getting darker and Absol began using Flash to brighten up the area. There were grave stones all over the mountainside. I had to be very careful as to not slip off a cliff. It was a long way down, and I swam in the waters below and knew there were too many rocks for it to be a safe landing. I saw a wild Pokémon unconscious on the ground, it was a Vulpix! Its eyes were in the same condition as the person I saw in the lobby area. Something really weird was happening here. I looked over at the Disaster Pokémon. He knew this was happening and came to me for help. I don't know if he came to me specifically, but that doesn't matter. He came to me for help and I will do whatever I can to help these afflicted bodies.

Absol and I climbed up a huge stair case leading to the top. I could hear the bells of the fort strike midnight. The eerie tune echoed through my body and I shivered. This place was giving me the creeps, and I was almost killed a bunch of times. You'd think by now I'd be fearless.

Absol halted suddenly. I nearly tripped over the Pokémon. I looked at the Pokémon and shifted my sight to see where he was looking. Across the path was a gravestone with a menacing doll positioned awkwardly against the tomb. Absol's head looked around and I found that every grave around us had one of those dreadful things on it. Absol puffed his chest out and squatted down, ready to pounce. I looked back at the first doll. It was closer!

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

I took a step back and felt myself step on something soft. I glanced down at my foot to see that I had stepped on one of the dolls. Its face distorted into a horrific grin and I jumped back.

"Absol what is that thing?" I asked. It was stupid though, Pokémon can't talk.

"Alakazam, come on out!" I released my Pokémon to tell me what it was.

Alakazam looked around; he was more frightened than I was. He dropped the item he held and jumped back into his ball!

"What the heck… okay Nuzleaf will help me out, right?" I let Nuzleaf out of the ball. This Pokémon looked around and smirked. He got into a fighting position and was ready for battle.

"Absol, will you help us fight?" Absol nodded and started to attack the strange dolls.

"Nuzleaf, use Faint Attack!" I ordered.

The grass-dark type vanished in an instant, avoiding one of the slashes of the black and orange dolls. He reappeared behind the foe and took it down with a powerful slam. The doll changed form and it was revealed to be a Pokémon! It was Banette, a ghost Pokémon that took over the body of a lost doll and seeks revenge on the ex-owner.

The more we took down, the more they pooled in. It was a seemingly endless swarm of Banette. Nuzleaf was getting overrun, and he was completely surround and no longer able to move. The ghost Pokémon started draining his life force.

_Dammit! I can't use Bide, Normal type moves don't hurt ghost Pokémon… Wait a second. I sent out Alakazam and he dropped something. Back in Granite Cave Abra took the Leaf Stone from me. That must have been the item he dropped. If I can get to that and throw it to Nuzleaf, I might have a chance!_

I searched the area for the green rock with a leaf imprint on it. It was on the ground, surrounded by curious ghost Pokémon. I couldn't get to it with all of them in the way.

"Go Marshtomp! Make a hole." I threw out my Pokémon and Marshtomp blasted the crowd of Pokémon with his Mud Shot attack, the Banette were jetted aside and I was able to grab hold of the item! I chucked the item toward Nuzleaf, who was starting to go down. The stone hit him and induced his evolution! He began glowing. He grew larger and the Banette were blown away by the energy produced from Nuzleaf's evolution.

"Okay Shiftry; now that we're all powered up, let's finish this! You too Marshtomp."

My Pokémon both nodded, their eyes were burning with a brilliant passion and they used their attacks Bullet Seed and Muddy Water to rapidly defeat the foes facing us! The Banette were washed up and stricken with the attacks and were drained off the side of the mountain. I turned to see how Absol was doing; the Pokémon was standing atop a pile of defeated Banette, licking himself clean. I laughed and congratulated the three Pokémon on our victory.

"Good job guys…" Marshtomp and Shiftry's eyes widened and I felt a shadow looming over me.

I peered over my shoulder and saw a gargantuan Pokémon! It was tubby and has a face on its belly and a bucket like helmet on his head with an antennae protruding from the top. It spoke in an ominous language and the mouth on its belly opened up! I felt myself being dragged inside of it, and my legs stopped. It was starting to become completely pitch black. I turned to order my Pokémon to attack but stopped as a saw my own body… collapsed on the ground and not moving!

_What the hell... just happened to me? What am I doing over there? _

The Pokémon's mouth suddenly closed and everything went black.

.

.

.

"Brendan." I recognized her voice. It was May.

My body was too lethargic to move. I was only able to open my eyes. I saw May standing over me smiling. She helped me to my feet and hugged me tightly.

"May!? I… What happened to Absol and the others?" I looked around, not recognizing the place as Mt. Pyre.

"Absol?" She let go of me and looked into my eyes. "Brendan, I thought you promised to wait for me when you left for your journey?"

I looked away. I recognized this place as Route 103, the day before I ran away from home.

"How did I get here?" Everything was a blur, the last thing I could remember that happened was Absol and Nuzleaf and that Banette swarm.

"What do you mean? We walked here like we always do."

I suddenly lost control of myself. I wasn't able to speak my mind and only could watch as the memory relived itself.

"I know I said I was going on my journey with you, but if I left early I would have a head start in the league. Imagine me as the Hoenn Champ, Isn't that exciting?"

May looked down. I knew what she was about to do. I had seen this before, It's the same nightmare that continues to torture me while I sleep. I don't remember falling asleep though.

"How could you do this to me Brendan? You promised... You stupid **fucking** jerk!"

Hearing her say a such a powerful word like that really hurt. I mean, I heard it all the time at school, but hearing her say it... she was always such a sweetheart. It didn't feel right to me, and it's hard for me to forgive myself after making her that upset that she would say it.

"Why did I have to fall for a stupid liar like you..." She started crying.

_May no, please don't cry... I shouldn't have left you early..._

"No, you shouldn't have."

She responded to my thoughts? I don't remember this part ever happening. I regained my control over my body and I took a step back. I blinked and the world became darker. May was glaring at me, she was going to hurt me really bad. I moved out of the way just before she sent her Blaziken to attack me with Blaze Kick. I ran, but couldn't outrun the fire-fighting type. Blaziken cut me off and I ducked down avoiding a spinning kick. I turned around and was pushed back down by May.

_Blaziken!? This isn't right at all, May didn't have a pokemon when this happened._

"What's going on? May, why are you doing this? I rolled aside as Blaziken drop kicked the ground. A Vulpix jumped in front of me ready to battle.

"A Vulpix, where'd you come from? Eh, it doesn't matter. Attack!" I threw my arm out and pointed at the target.

The six tailed fox released a Fire Spin attack and it surrounded May and her Blaziken. Both of them vaporized instantly! Vulpix tugged at my leg and I followed the Pokémon. It took me to the lobby of Mt. Pyre. I wasn't sure how we had gotten here so quickly from Route 103, but after what just happened I didn't question it. The lady I found in the zombie-like state earlier was sitting up, she was perfectly fine.

"You're all better?" I asked her.

"What do you mean? I've been perfectly fine for weeks!" She exclaimed. That wasn't much of a help. Vulpix urged me to keep going. I followed her up to the summit of Mt. Pyre. It was very sunny out and everything was colorless, like an old movie. All was grey and drab except two orbs that sat on the tip of the summit shrine. One was red and the other was blue. An elderly couple approached me.

"You there, do you know where you are?"

"Mt. Pyre." I answered.

"No, this looks a lot like Mt. Pyre doesn't it. To the untrained soul, this place is just like the real world."

"What are you talking about?" I asked them. "Who are you two anyway?"

"We are the guardians of the Red and Blue Orb. This is whole world is merely a corroboration of all of our minds and memories. We sensed you the moment you arrived. You have some dark memories and dreams boy, that girl is going to be the death of all of us if we don't get out quickly."

"What do you mean… how can this all be a dream?"

"It's not quite a dream… no time to explain, we have company." They pointed behind me.

May was standing at the top of the stairs, she had climbed them chasing after me. Vulpix hissed at her, the tails standing up and ready to fight her off.

"If she beats you, we'll be trapped in here forever. No pressure."

I started sweating; this was awfully realistic for a dream. Vulpix was the only Pokémon I had; the others who usually were clipped to my belt were all gone.

"Vulpix use flamethrower on her!"

The small fire type opened her mouth and released a blazing attack that consumed May! She didn't vaporize like before though, she was still there, burnt and scarred from the attack. Her eyes were psychotic and she sent out her Blaziken to attack us. Vulpix was hit with Blaziken's Sky Uppercut and launched into the air! I dived to catch the hurt Pokémon, landing hard on top of a gravestone.

"Ugh… for a dream, this place sure hurts a lot." I groaned.

Vulpix was really hurt, even from a normal Blaziken's attack, which would've done a ton of damage. This wasn't an ordinary Blaziken, and that wasn't an ordinary May either. I cradled Vulpix in my arms and glared watching the scorched girl draw nearer. Blaziken stood still and waited for her master's command.

"No need Blaziken, I've got this one myself." The burnt May replied. Her eyes were bloodshot and wide, as if her eyelids were burned away from Vulpix's attack earlier. It deeply scarred me seeing her face like that. I closed my eyes and looked away. She grabbed my collar and lifted me off the ground. She tore Vulpix from my arms and tossed the Pokémon aside.

"Do what you please Blaziken."

Blaziken grabbed the injured Vulpix and held attempted to tear it in two. May started to claw at me as she laughed maniacally. Suddenly, a pink slash cut through space and chopped right through May and Blaziken! It left a black cut in the air and a whirlwind began to suck me out of the hole! I grabbed Vulpix and held the fire type tightly trying to protect it. I didn't know what was happening to me as I was hurled through this vortex, but it was much better than the hell of having to fight that… monster…

My eyes jolted open and I looked around again. I was back at Mt. Pyre, Vulpix was no longer in my arms, but Absol was standing over me. The Dusknoir the old couple mentioned in that 'dream' was standing ten yards in front of us, with a pink gash running through its belly. Absol swung the blade like protrusion on its head once more and the same pink blade sped through the air and hit the Pokémon again! Behind Dusknoir was the shrine, and the old couple from the dream was lying on the ground there motionless.

_Dusknoir swallowed our souls… does that mean that they're dead… that I was dead?_

I was in shock realizing this. Absol was taking most of the heat from the fight, while Shiftry and Marshtomp came to my aid. Dusknoir used Shadow Punch on Absol, his arm vanishing for an instant and jabbing the dark type in the side. Absol cringed; Dusknoir must've hit him right in the soul with that punch. A blazing attack consumed Dusknoir from behind and I saw Vulpix step up from the staircase. I smiled seeing the Pokémon who saved me again.

"Vulpix!" I exclaimed, running over to the Pokémon.

Dusknoir didn't allow it, and he struck me in the side with a Shadow Punch! I flew into a gravestone and heard a crack. My eyes widened and I screamed in pain! Absol and Vulpix both came to my aid, attacking the foe and keeping him from gripping me. I saw the blank stone that I once had the power of the forest in it. I grabbed the stone and called Vulpix.

"Vulpix use flamethrower on this blank stone!"

The fire fox listened and ignited the blank stone, giving it the power of fire and transforming it into a Fire Stone! I brushed her fur with the stone allowing its energy to transfer into her body and evolve Vulpix into Ninetales!

However, while Ninetales' back was turned, Dusknoir attacked it with Shadow Punch and struck the fire type, sending it hurling forward and pushing my back against the tombstone again! I cried out in pain and Ninetales unleashed a scorching Fire Blast attack! The inferno consumed Dusknoir's body, blasting it back and completely crushing a large tomb! The Pokémon attempted to stand up but Absol took it down with another Psycho Cut attack! Dusknoir was slashed in half, and several blue lines shot from it! Two shot across the plateau and struck the old couple. They stood up and saw the battle scene. Another shot through the mountain side and probably returned to the lady in the lobby. Dusknoir was thinner than before. He attempted to get away. But Absol dashed toward it and finished off the monster with a Night Slash! This Absol had known moves I had not seen used in this region before.

Absol and Ninetales both came up to me. They trusted me enough now and they wanted to join my team. I took out two empty Pokeballs and they nodded. Pressing the button in the middle of each, a laser shot out and inhaled Absol and Ninetales. The balls immediately clicked shut and I held them up in the air proudly! The balls vanished, teleported back to the lab probably. I withdrew Marshtomp and Shiftry and stood up. I winced; my back was in terrible pain from being slammed against that grave. The old couple waved their hands seeing me pain, and a flock of Chimecho came from behind the shrine! The psychic Pokémon began swaying in the wind, their bells ringing like wind chimes and a soothing magic encircled my body. My wounds were completely healed, back pains gone and my stomach didn't feel like it had a gaping hole from that shadow punch.

"You did it boy." The old man said. He patted me on the back. "You saved our lives."

I felt that heroism hearing that. I did something important. I saved the inhabitants of Mt. Pyre! The old couple handed me a powerful berry that would relieve my body of its exhaustion, I hadn't slept for nearly a whole day! The sun was starting to rise over the mountain side and I had Alakazam teleport me back to the shore so I could continue toward Lilycove city.

Lilycove was one of the largest cities in the region, rivaling the size of Goldenrod City in Johto. I was full of energy after eating that special berry I had received. So I decided to go and replenish my stock of items at the Lilycove Department Store. The place was huge! The shopping center was a tower that rivaled the height of Devon Corporation in Rustboro City! I stepped up to the automatic sliding doors, but they were locked. It must be too early for them to open. I turned around to walk away and ran into someone.

"Brendan."

I wasn't paying attention until I heard my name. I looked at the persons face… it was May.

"You're not running away this time Brendan."

My body was surging with energy from the berry. A gust of wind picked up dust as the two of us stared each other down. I scoffed.

"I'm not going to run. I'm going to beat you… and leave!"


	8. Chapter 8

A.N./ If you guys aren't accustomed to TV, a mid season finale is a long break in the middle of the season story. In the original story, this is the ending chapter. And now for the mid season finale of Run Away!

Run Away Chapter 8: Relieved

"There's no running this time Brendan."

"Oh I'm not running away. I'm going to beat you, and then leave!"

Emotions were surging through my body; my fists were clenched tightly and shaking uncontrollably. Anger, excitement, fear, the sensations overflowed me and I seemed to lose control over my body. My enmity took control of my arms and grabbed the ball of Alakazam, hurling it toward May! She defended the strike with Beautifly's Pokeball! Sparks dropped to the ground as the two spheres clipped each other and released the Pokémon within them! Alakazam dropped to the ground in front of me. I caught the ball falling from the air and yelled commands at my Pokémon in a hostile tone.

"Alakazam Ice Punch!"

My Pokémon hesitated and my blood boiled in frustration. Alakazam covered his hands in frost and icicles and lunged at May's Pokémon. Beautifly dodged the attack.

"Brendan, I don't have time for these games!" She yelled.

I glared into her eyes with a cold stare. To me this wasn't a game; the result of this battle, to me, was vital to my journey. I would defeat her no matter the cost. I growled angrily as Beautifly struck Alakazam with Giga Drain. I barked another order to my Pokémon. He wasn't reacting as fast as he normally did and it was making my emotions worse. Alakazam pinned down Beautifly with Psychic and finished it off with Ice Punch, bashing her Pokémon in the chest with the icy blow. Frost particles began to spread across the entirety of Beautifly's body and May withdrew the defeated bug-flying type.

"Brendan…" She looked down.

I sensed that her voice was frail and weak saying this; and I was prepared to take full advantage of that to win this fight. She snapped her eyes back to mine, they were glaring right back. She was serious now and this match could go either way. Her hands were clenched tightly and she hurled her next pokeball out with an unnecessary amount of force. Banette, the dolls that I fought just hours before on Mt. Pyre, was the Pokémon she chose. Alakazam was mortified of this opponent. He did not like fighting ghost types, but I made sure he was prepared this time.

"Shadow Ball," I ordered.

Alakazam formed a dark sphere before his chest and hurled it toward the foe! Banette countered with Protect. Upon contact with the green barrier, Shadow Ball erupted into an array of darkness. May's Banette took advantage of the black energy and used it to form her own, more powerful Shadow Ball attack. It spun at high velocity toward Alakazam and struck his abdomen and sent him flying back toward me!

"Dammit!" I cursed, returning my Pokémon without another word.

"Go Manectric!"

I tossed out my next Pokémon and ordered him to use Bite. Manectric rushed toward the foe, clamping it down within his jaws and flailing his head about viciously. Banette was torn from the fangs of Manectric by the hand of gravity. The Ghost type hit the ground by May's feet.

Banette struggled to stand, but managed. Manectric barred its fangs for another attack, but I stopped him.

"No, this time use Thunder, Manectric." I suggested.

The yellow canine howled and a dark cloud appeared from above the Shopping Mall. Banette glared at Manectric with a devilish grin. Banette was surrounded with blue embers and they circled around her as the lightning came crashing down on her. Banette was singed and static electricity emanated around the unconscious body of the ghost type. May withdrew her Pokémon; she had a smug look on her face.

_What is that look for? What is she planning…?_

She sent in her Slaking. I had last seen it as a Vigoroth, but now it was a fully evolved Pokémon.

"Manectric use Thunder on it!" I barked, my hand was raised to sky.

Manectric attempted to use Thunder; but when he howled to the sky nothing happened. I crossed my arms impatiently and tapped my foot.

"Manectric, what are you doing?!" I shouted at my Pokémon, and the canine cowered. I recoiled seeing this.

_Manectric… oh no, I was like this with Alakazam too. I've been treating them like tools all battle instead of fighting alongside them like I usually do. Alakazam, if you're reading my thoughts, I'm sorry for that._

I snapped back into reality, finally in control of my frenzied emotions. "Manectric, forgive me for being harsh… I didn't have control over myself just then…"

My Pokémon cautiously approached me. I crouched down with my arms opened and Manectric jumped in them for a warm embrace. I hugged the Pokémon tightly, and as my skin brushed against the soft fur of the canine I felt my body freed from the anger and resentment I held toward May. I looked up at her, about to end the battle. Tell her my true feelings… but the moment was ended as soon as May spoke.

"Slaking use your Earthquake now!"

The ground started shaking around me. I watched in dread as the cracks in the ground drew closer to me. 5 meters… now 2 meters. The ground shifted and crackled and ruptured beneath my feet. My Pokémon used Roar, blowing me out of the attack and to safety. The ground beneath Manectric collapsed and my Pokémon was crushed by the debris. I withdrew Manectric and thanked him for saving me. I looked at May and sent out my Lairon to take down Slaking!

"Lairon, use Rock Tomb and immobilize him."

My Pokémon stomped his front foot on the ground and summoned huge boulders that dropped from the air and surrounded Slaking. The normal type was completely entombed by the attack and from the looks of it, was no longer able to battle. In front of Lairon was merely a pile of stones and rocks.

"Focus Punch."

My eyes widened realizing what I had just done. Not only did I trap Slaking in the stone prison… but I also created a protective barrier that made it impossible for me to strike him and break his focus. The prison shattered from Slaking's powerful fist, and the attack continued to fly toward Lairon!

"Lairon, use Protect!" I ordered.

Slaking's attack was halted by the green shield. Lairon was protected for a moment, but while I had to wait for the shield to wear off, Slaking prepared another Focus Punch attack.

"Lairon use Iron Tail the moment he attacks you!"

The shield shattered and shards of green scattered across the grassy courtyard of the Department Store. Slaking dashed forward with impressive speed and his fist collided with the metal tail of Lairon! The two attacks emitted a loud blast that reverberated against the buildings in the city! Lairon was thrown back, the armor on his tail severely damaged while Slaking's fist was completely useless from hitting metal.

"Lairon, return… You've done well."

"Slaking, come back!"

May and I withdrew our Pokémon. I wasn't going to back down, no matter what now. After her sneak attack on Manectric I'd show her what happened when you hurt my friends.

"Go Shiftry!"

"Flygon, I choose you!"

Shiftry against a Flygon… it would be a tough fight. But I believed in my Pokémon, I knew Shiftry had what it takes to win. The leafy fans on his hands swayed with a gust of wind. Shiftry and Flygon stared each other down with such intensity.

"Shiftry go get 'em!"

Shiftry nodded and slugged a rapid fire seed assault at Flygon! Flygon flipped and twisted, avoiding the move and sped toward my Pokémon. Flygon's mouth was blazing, it had a fire type attack dormant in its body and was about to unleash it! Fire spilled from the Pokémon's jaws and it jerked his head forward and released the inferno! Shiftry caught the wind with his fans and adjusted it to take control of Flygon's attack, sending the flamethrower attack into the air and crashing down on the ground beside Flygon_. _

_With Shiftry's ability to control the wind and create powerful gusts with it, no special attacks would be able to reach him. Flygon would have to get in close and when he does… _

May's Flygon attempted to hit Shiftry with his Flamethrower attack more. Shiftry regulated another gust of wind and sent the scorching flames back at Flygon! The dragon was consumed in his own flames and overwhelmed by the heat. A loud screech emitted from within the fireball. Flygon was burned and May was furious! She screamed her Flygon's next attack; Dragon Claw.

I smirked knowing that Shiftry would be able to defeat Flygon the moment he got in close.

"This might sting a little, Shiftry!" I informed. Flygon drew nearer, his claws blazing with a purple and yellow aura. Flygon swooped over Shiftry, his claws high in the air and ready to drop down and slice through my Pokémon.

"Explosion!"

Shiftry closed his eyes and a dark ambiance filled the entire courtyard as my Pokémon lit up. A loud blast, a blinding light, smoke filled the air and Flygon shrieked in pain. The green dragon was blown out of the flames by the aftershock, his body ignited in flames. Flygon was out of commission. I glanced at Shiftry, who was in much worse condition. I knew his tree-like body would ultimately regenerate, but seeing him shredded like that was still unnerving. I looked away and withdrew my Pokémon.

"Forgive me, Shiftry."

May held up her pokeball and called Flygon back inside. She looked worried for the Pokémon. Maybe now she understood what I felt when Manectric was attacked earlier.

"Go Shelgon!"

"Bellossom, let's do this!"

Bellossom, I remember watching it evolve during May's battle with Wally. It was much stronger now, but it still used the same strategy. May started setting up her strategy. A Sunny Day to make her attacks hit every turn. She didn't count on one thing though; whoever Shelgon's father was… was one hell of a Salamence.

"Shelgon, use Heat Wave!"

My Pokémon jumped back and was encircled in a fiery vortex. The flames spread themselves into the air and a hot wind singed several plants as it sped toward May's Pokémon.

"Bellossom, Sleep Powder!"

Thinking quickly, her Pokémon put Shelgon to sleep before he was able to unleash the fire he put into the air. Shelgon dropped down on the ground and gave in to his exhaustion. Meanwhile, Bellossom was charging a Solar Beam attack. The raging sunlight greatly decreased the charge time, and within seconds, her attack shot at my dragon. Shelgon was blown back, flipping and rolling across the courtyard grass. He was still sleeping, a pained expression plastered across his face. Water leaking from his mouth and evaporated as it hit the ground.

_Shelgon is unable to do anything while he's asleep… there has to be something I can do to get him up in time… _

"SHELGON!" I called out to my Pokémon. The dragon's eyes opened just as the second Solar Beam was fired. Shelgon dodged the attack and released the Heat Wave attack from earlier. Bellossom was over taken by the fire attack, which was powered up by the sun's rays. Bellossom twirled, failing to maintain balance as the scorching wind ignited her leafy body. May called back her burnt Pokémon and sent in Blaziken!

I cringed seeing that Blaziken… remembering the last time I saw the two together. It was gruesome, even though it wasn't even real. I couldn't move or speak and just watched as Blaziken took down Shelgon with a Blaze Kick.

"If you won't attack, then I will!" She growled.

Blaziken dropped another fiery attack on Shelgon. The dragon lay motionless of the ground, Blaziken standing over it menacingly.

_Why now? Why does this memory suddenly come into my head now? I didn't picture it at all during the rest of the battle… _

A dark cloud surrounded the image in my head. I felt a familiar presence over take my head and calm me down.

_It feels like… Gardevoir! She's using her telepathy to block out that memory! Wally must be using her to find my location, and he's pretty close._

Finally back to my senses, I switched Shelgon out with Marshtomp. The sun was being blocked out by dreary morning overcast. The skies became cloudy and grey. It started to rain and the small group of spectators watching our battle left and took cover indoors. Blaziken would be weakened in the rain, and Marshtomp's water attacks would be all I would need to take her down.

"Marshtomp use Muddy Water!"

The mud fish Pokémon sprayed water all over the ground around him making the ground muddy enough for his attack. He summoned a tidal wave of mud and water to come crashing down on Blaziken. I was able to see from the side as Blaziken dashed through the trough and avoiding the crashing crest of the wave. The fire type reached the end of the line and did what it could to shield her flames from the attack. The mud covered its feathers and Blaziken was coated in dark brown coloration. Flames spouted from her wrists angrily. Rain started to pour down hard around us, making Blaziken's flames weaken and extinguish. Now was my chance to finish this match.

"Marshtomp, use Earthquake!"

Marshtomp hopped up and bashed his feet into the ground at once. A tremendous shockwave rippled through the earth below and the ground beneath Blaziken shattered. Earth and rocks flew up into the air, breaking and smashing as they crashed into each other. They all collapsed on top of Blaziken and the fire-fighting type wasn't visible on the field anymore.

I smirked at first, but noticed May didn't have the grim expression I thought she would. I stopped smiling and she started laughing.

"Reversal…"

My eyes widened and an energy blast shot out of the rubble! Debris from my attack flew in the air and Blaziken erupted from the pile of dirt and stone, rushing toward Marshtomp with a burning passion. With a flip and a kick, Marshtomp was hurled into my chest and I was sent flying with my Pokémon! A searing pain over took my entire body as a loud crash happened around me. I was thrown into the wall of the Museum hill and broke through the concrete! I felt hot liquid leaking from my head and my vision started going blurry. Using the last of my strength I put Marshtomp back in his pokeball and dropped the last Pokémon of mine into my bag. I struggled to pull myself out of the hole in the wall, I could hardly see a thing, but I knew something was wrong.

Two large figures came up behind May and grabbed her. She started screaming for help and struggling to break free from his grasp. I couldn't hear what they were saying; my ears were ringing so loudly. The other man came and grabbed me, just as my vision failed. My body went limp and I felt myself fall away into darkness…

.

.

.

"Brendan…"

.

.

.

I opened my eyes. Everything was still blurred and my whole body ached. I looked around. The floor was hard and uncomfortable, but my head was resting in something soft and warm. I looked up, May was looking down at me, and she had tears streaming down her face.

"Brendan… I'm so sorry." She kept repeating, stroking my hair.

She didn't notice that I was awake yet, I just let her keep talking. A click echoed through the room and a bright flood light shined down upon us. I was able to see what the floor was, a thick industrial glass. Beneath it was a pool with several Sharpedo circling around below us. I sat up, panic over taking me.

"May, what happened!? Where are we?"

"Team Aqua… I didn't have enough strength left to fight them off. They threw us in this cell…" She cried.

I remembered Team Aqua. Wally and I fought them off outside Petalburg Woods. I didn't think that a bunch of punks would have something like this. Maybe I was wrong and these two gangs were much more dangerous than I thought. The room was being looked down upon by a window. A bunch of grunts were looking down and cheering while a man with a black suit started to speak over the intercom. I blocked out the man's voice, I couldn't listen to him completely. I just froze. The words passed through me as he parted us farewell. The floor started to shift and a mechanical screech emitted from the walls behind us. The floor started to shift and move. The glass slide beneath our bodies and pushed us against the wall. Slowly, the only thing protecting us from the Sharpedo below retreated into the wall.

"Brendan, it's all my fault. I'm sorry I got you involved in this. If I had just let you go this would've never happened… you'd be safe still…"

Her tears dripped on the glass floor moving slowly beneath us. Team Aqua was going to drop us into a Sharpedo tank and watch them tear us to shreds! My body was filled with anger and I stood up to try and get to those monsters above. May grabbed my arm and didn't let me though.

"Brendan, don't go…"

I gulped and sat down next to her. She buried her face in my chest and cried. I held my breath and wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.

"Brendan, there is something I have to tell you… I've been trying to tell you but you kept running from me."

I exhaled slowly, I felt myself on the verge of crying as I watched the edge of the glass floor draw near.

"I shouldn't have said those things… back on Route 103. I was upset, I was scared that you'd leave me and I would never see you again. You'd meet someone else and…"

"What do you mean meet someone else?" I didn't realize how dense that sounded until after the words parted from my lips. May looked up at me; her bright blue eyes were blood shot from crying. She must have been crying for a while now for them to get like that.

_How long was I unconscious?_

"I love you… and I couldn't stand you coming home with another girl… I wanted you to wait for me, to let me go with you. I'm sorry I am so selfish, I'm sorry I hurt you… but please don't hold a grudge against me after this!" She pleaded with me, her grip on my shirt tightened.

"May!? I…" Even though she had said it first, I still couldn't get the words to come out. Why was it so hard to say it? I glanced over at the glass edge. It was less than a foot away from us at this point. I gulped.

"I love you too!" I exclaimed, closing my eyes tight. I pulled her up and pressed my lips against hers. I opened one eye to see how she reacted, her eyes were wide with surprise, but soon she gave in and closed them and kissed me back. I smiled and closed my eyes relieved. I felt the glass move over my foot and the splashing of the hungry Pokémon in the waters below.

My foot started to lose ground, and was suspended in the air. Time slowed as I watched the Sharpedo leap from the water, his jaws wide and ready to clamp down on my leg!

"May, I'm sorry I was immature. I shouldn't have run away from you. I forgive you, for everything."

I clamped my eyes shut and tightened my arms around May. I my body went cold and I started to lose balance and fall back.

"Thunderbolt!"

Lightning shot down and struck Sharpedo and fried him. It dropped back into the water. The glass above was destroyed and Wally and Altaria were in the air above us. Gardevoir was hovering above the ground, and fired another Thunderbolt attack at the water, shocking the rest of the vicious Pokémon. Using her psychic powers, Gardevoir lifted May and I up and into the room that she was in. Team Aqua grunts were knocked out and scattered across the damaged floor of the room. The glass was broken and Wally was riding on Altaria's back.

_Gardevoir was in my head the whole time; she must have known I was in trouble! _

A vision began to play in my head, instigated by Gardevoir's power. It was on Route 102. Ralts was lying injured on the ground. I began to realize that if I hadn't rescued it, it would've died there. Her trainer abandoned it because it was too weak and unable to fight the low leveled Poochyena in the area. I saw the whole scene through the eyes of Ralts…the Poochyena ripping through her skin with bite, shaking his head brutally and tossing Ralts onto the ground… the trainer screaming at his Pokémon in frustration… and leaving it for the Poochyena to eat. The dark types were scared off by the sound of fighting nearby and moments later I arrived.

A flash of light returned me to reality. I was being teleported around by Gardevoir's flash stepping. She used her attacks to blow away the Aqua Grunts that attacked us. Wally and Altaria burned through the dark type Pokémon Gardevoir couldn't hurt, with dragon attacks.

"That's the exit of the hideout, that door right there!" Wally called up to us. I was holding onto May's hand while we ran toward the hole in the wall. I jumped through the bright light and began falling to the sea below! Gardevoir teleported May and I to shore, not far from the rock we jumped from. Wally flew out of the hole on Altaria and descended onto the sandy beach where May and I rested. A loud explosion blew bits of stone off the large cave.

"Wally, did you plant bombs!?" I gasped at the smoke cloud coming from Team Aqua's hideout.

"No, Steven is still in there."

Another explosion expelled flames from the hole we just escaped from. The horrendous noise scared off the Wailmer who were performing their mating rituals in the bay. May perked up and pointed at something in the water.

"That's the submarine Team Aqua stole in Slateport!" She yelled.

"That means they got away." I groaned.

"What about Steven?" Wally looked toward the cave.

A figure emerged from the flames, a massive robotic shadow following behind him. Steven stepped from the base coolly, his Metagross following behind him. The steel-psychic type Pokémon folded its four legs above his symmetrical body and Steven jumped on the hovering robot and came toward us.

"Brendan, May; are the two of you alright?" Steven asked as he hopped off Metagross.

"I'm fine…" May answered, "But I hurt Brendan badly when we battled earlier. I tried patching up his injuries but he might need professional medical attention."

I suddenly realized my head was wrapped in bandages, it's really hard to distinguish bandage from my headband. Steven walked up to me.

"Brendan, you're too hurt to help us fight… so you're staying in Lilycove for the time being."

I shot an irate glare at May for saying I was too hurt to fight. "I feel fine!"

"Well you sure don't look it." Wally chimed in.

Three against one, I better just accept it. I sighed in defeat and looked down. I agreed to stay out of the fight with Team Aqua verbally, but I wasn't really going to listen. I'd opt for a Soft Boiled treatment and get my wounds healed fast enough to finish the fight. Steven's boat was docked in Lilycove Harbor. May hugged me tight and apologized for harming me with her last attack. She kissed me farewell and they set sail for Mossdeep.

I allowed my team to rest at the Pokémon center and the Soft Boiled Treatment went faster than I expected. I was allowed to leave within the hour, it was sunset now. I really wish I had another Starf Berry from that old couple.

A Team Aqua Grunt was walking through the streets. He had his head down. I grabbed him by the shoulder angrily. He turned and looked at me.

"You're alive!?" He gasped.

Surprisingly, the grunt hugged me. I was confused so I didn't attack him like I had planned to. Then he started explaining.

"I am somewhat new to Team Aqua. I don't have much of a family and the friends I had joined that gang. I went with them. I thought it was a conservative group for the sea, but they started having us attack people from Team Magma. I didn't like doing it, but I saw what they did to traitors using that tank you were in… I couldn't believe they'd go so far as to put a couple of little kids in there…" He stopped for a moment.

"I need you to listen to me though. The guys from Team Magma, they aren't any good either. They did the same thing at Meteor Falls. They kidnapped a scientist and held his daughter and wife hostage so he'd get them a meteorite. They were going to use it to make Mt. Chimney erupt! I know where their base is. I don't want a part of either team anymore; I'll help you fight them."

"What makes you think I'll trust you?"

"You don't have to, but take this." He handed me a coin with the Team Magma Emblem on it. "Go to the Jagged Pass. There's a rock that will open up there if you hold this up to it."

I wanted to ask how he knew this, but I didn't care. I nodded and headed toward Route 121. I wasn't going to sit back and let everyone else do the work; May, Wally, and Steven.

"Alakazam, I need you to Teleport me to Lavaridge Town."

I was going to fight too.


End file.
